Return of the Dark Noblemon
by Avalon9
Summary: Chap 13! Piedmon, and the other villans of 01 returns after 02, to take revenge! But is there more to them then they think? *Bad laungege, every so often* Please R
1. Freedom

Piedmon felt his data floating useless within the Gate of Destiny. It had been five years since he had been locked away. Through his powers he saw many things. He watched those wretched children grow up. He watched them defeat Apocalymon after he had lost. Even with the spirits of all his fellow evil Digimon lending their powers to make Apocalymon, he were defeated. Just like Diaboromon, the Internet-created Digimon, when the groups' two Megas had evolved into one. He had to admit he was more than amazed at their power and love for their Digimon. And again when Myotismon tried to destroy them for a third time. Myotismon was outnumbered by DigiDestined all over the planet; ironically, these new digi-brats who defeated him were created by no other than themselves. In all their attempts to destroy the children they created more. Hundreds more. It made Piedmon sick.  
  
He wished he were free of this cursed place more then anything, even if it meant facing a million digi-brats to get out. Piedmon wondered why this place was called the Gate of Destiny. Was it his destiny to float around this place his entire life in misery? A creature as powerful as he? He was one of the strongest Digimon to ever live. He had locked away the four DigiGuardians protecting the Digital World, created an army to take the Digital World, and then relocated and transformed it into Spiral Mountain. He had nearly destroyed those brats: he was able to take out WarGreymon the first time they fought, then he was able to do it again before the DigiDestined of Friendship had come and rejuvenated him. He nearly turned them all into key chains, but by the time he had the last three cornered he had become completely exhausted. Even Angemon was able to give him a few good hits before he digivolved to Ultimate. By the time MagnaAngemon had revived all the other Digimon, the little flower brat had brought reinforcements. He couldn't take them all and he knew it-his only hope was the Vilemon. He needed time to regain his strength but he didn't get it. Before he had realized what was happing they pushed him into this horrid gate.  
  
Piedmon now floated alone, thinking these thoughts over and over again. He had hope when his brother Myotismon had revealed the fact that he was still alive. Hope that his brother would defeat the children and come to free him. But as he watched MaloMyotismon scream in agony as the light of the children's hopes and dreams destroyed him, Piedmon's own hopes and dreams were crushed.  
  
His interest was suddenly drawn to a little boy playing with a DemiDevimon somewhere in the Digital World. The sun shone brightly on the happy twosome. It made Piedmon want to puke. How disgusting: the once dark and frightening Digital World he had created had become bright and happy. But this wasn't what really bothered him; it was the fact that a viral type, his own kind, was betraying its nature. A Virus that could become a Devimon, being good? What a repulsive thought. How could he let this happen? Children all over the world with Digimon partners. Two creatures bound together by fate. And now it was his fate to be alone and watch.  
  
Unlike him, his comrades were reborn because Digimon never really die. But they were concealed within Digieggs. They would never be freed. Even though it was more the likely they would forget everything that had happened and would probably become new Digimon, Gennai and friends would never let them be free again. It was the punishment they would receive for their crimes. They were condemned to never truly live again. Plus, the guardians were afraid of the possibility that his comrades would remember; that they would become stronger and take the world again.  
  
Watching the two made him think. Was it possible that perhaps there was some child out there meant to be his? And what about his comrades? Did they have children as well? It seemed that every Digimon was meant for someone. Piedmon thought very hard for a moment. Perhaps that was what they were missing the whole time. He had power and lots of it, but it seemed that whenever a child gave their power to their Digimon, the Digimon became more powerful. Maybe the children were the key. Maybe it didn't matter how powerful he was; if he had someone with him, someone who was foolish enough to care for him and give them their strength, he could have won. What was it about these little ones that gave their kind such strength? Piedmon wondered how he had never thought of it before. And the more he thought about his own DigiDestined, the more he wanted one. He imagined a strong young boy, with a sick sense of humor and a taste for blood. It made Piedmon tingle all over thinking of the horrible things they would do to the other digi-brats. But alas, Piedmon knew he was stuck forever.  
  
"Damn it!" Piedmon shouted to no one. "I can't take it anymore I'm getting out of here!" Piedmon concentrated all his energy. "I won't stay here forever, I'll get out! I'll become stronger and show this world all my wrath and power!" Piedmon felt his rage growing as he watched more happy children; this time it was the two that had escaped him. "Those brats! I'll get them too! I'll crush them!" He didn't realize it but as his anger and determination grew, his data was returning and his power was growing. It shocked him at first, but he felt his body tingle; when he looked down he saw his data returning to him and he was taking on his true form again. Piedmon started laughing insanely. "Yessssss, yesssss.I can feel it! I'm growing stronger!" Piedmon shouted. But what was making him stronger? There was nothing here...but the data of the Vilemon that were with him in the gate! He was absorbing their energy! How could he do that? He had never been able to do such a thing-no Digimon could. But then again, no other Digimon had been trapped in another dimension for five years. And no Digimon was like him. Something in this place had changed him for the better.  
  
Piedmon got an idea; he stretched out his arms, closed his eyes. "I want to be stronger!" Piedmon repeated it over and over again. He started to feel his newly restored body tingle. He felt strange; opening his eyes, he was shocked to see his body expanding and the foggy substance that was holding him disappearing, letting in the sun of his home. "Yes..." he whispered.  
  
~  
  
Gennai sat alone in a large hall. He was finally able to relax; everything was at peace. Azulongmon's power had been restored, and with Myotismon defeated the world was safe. He looked over at the seven dark eggs behind a heavily armed grate. He counted them: Devimon, Etemon, Myotismon, MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon, LadyDevimon, Pied...no, not Piedmon. Gennai knew Piedmon had been concealed within MagnaAngemon's gate, and should be there forever. But Gennai also knew Piedmon too well. Piedmon had been the one that started all the problems in the Digital World in the first place, and was the meanest, sneakiest, most unpredictable mon ever. Worse than that, Piedmon was the only Digimon like him; there had never been another. Devimon and Etemon were common Viruses. Myotismon and LadyDevimon were very rare and powerful. The others Megas didn't appear as often but were the highest stage of other common Digimon, like Cherrymon, MegaSeadramon, and Megadramon. But Piedmon was unique. Some said that Piedmon were fully evolved Phantomon or Myotismon, but Gennai knew better. He had seen Piedmon's other forms, and like him they were unique. This wouldn't bother him except for the fact that there were only four other Digimon that were one of a kind. The four guardians. Like them, Piedmon was powerful, and there was little known about him. This made Piedmon more dangerous; they didn't know what he was truly capable of. Gennai wished that Piedmon had been destroyed like the other Dark Masters, and his egg safe and protected. He wasn't, though; he was too strong, and they couldn't delete him.  
  
It was the children's own belief that they could defeat him that allowed them to win. They didn't give up and had weakened him, but it would have taken much more to delete him like the others. Gennai knew that Piedmon's true power was more then what the children knew, more even than MaloMyotismon's. The children didn't understand how close they had come to losing everything. It was pure luck that they sent Piedmon through the gate, that and Piedmon's oversized ego. Gennai smiled; that had always been Piedmon's true falling. Piedmon had always been overconfident in his abilities. They could always use that against him. But still his existence bothered him. Gennai finally realized what he needed to do.  
  
"Azulongmon!" Gennai shouted out.  
  
"He still worries you, doesn't he...?" a voice answered.  
  
"It's just that we both know what he's capable of. There was a lot more to his defeat then the children knew about," Gennai replied.  
  
"It's true, Piedmon did many horrible things and we had to take matters into our own hands. We wore him down and drained him of a lot of his power before the children arrived," the voice said. "Tell me, what do you want to do?"  
  
"I want to check out the gate where he's held. I want to make sure he's really trapped there. I need to know that there's no way for him to get out," Gennai said.  
  
"And what if you find he can get out?" Azulongmon asked.  
  
"Then we alert the DigiDestined. We tell them everything, like we should have in the beginning."  
  
"You know that if we had told them everything, it would have been too much for them! They don't need to know everything we know about Piedmon. Even Piedmon himself doesn't know," Azulongmon reprimanded.  
  
"I know, but still.I wish we could have told them. Anyway, now there are children all over the world ready and willing to protect our world and theirs. If needed, we have quite an army. I propose if there is any way for him to escape, we go in and delete him! The when he is reconfigured we well finally be able to keep his evil hidden and concealed."  
  
"Very well. Let us deal with that option when we come to it. And Gennai, remember.tell no one of your plans. We can't let anyone know what you are planning; it is too dangerous," Azulongmon finished.  
  
Gennai was still troubled. The thought of the still-living enemy worried him.  
  
"So I still worry you, do I, Gennai?" a cocky, all-too-familiar voice called out. Gennai couldn't believe his ears. He spun around. There stood the regal clown in all his glory and then some. Piedmon was different now; he was ten feet tall, and his eyes sparked with power and revenge. Piedmon's laugh echoed in the world, filling it with fear, as the seven eggs glowed with the happiness of the dark noblemen's return. 


	2. Return of Devimon

Piedmon smiled as he left Gennai's base. In his arm he carried seven small eggs, and he had wrapped himself in a black cloak. He scrunched down, trying to make himself appear small. He wasn't used to the extra height he had gained, but he liked it and wanted more. And he would have it, he promised himself.  
  
His first part of his plan had been completed. Now he needed to create crests and new, more powerful Digivices for each egg. He would be able to do this easily enough, and once he had done it, he could use the Digivices to find the child each Digimon belonged with. Once that was done, he could go on with the next part of his plan. He would once again distort the Digital World to suit him. But first, he would need a place to hide from the creatures around him. So far, the only one who knew he had returned was Gennai. Piedmon smiled evilly. "He won't be telling anyone." he chuckled.  
  
Piedmon couldn't understand what had happened to him inside the gate. He knew that somehow his determination and anger had allowed him to become stronger. It had allowed him to feed off the energy around him. He wondered if he could absorb the energy of other creatures or things. The thought of it made him giddy. He could only imagine how strong he could become then. He promised himself that when he found a safe place to hide the eggs, he would go and find out.  
  
~  
  
Gennai lay crumpled on the floor when he woke up. He could barely move. He tried to stand up, but felt a horrible pain in his legs. He couldn't move; he could barely see.  
  
Why did he let me live? he thought. Of course Piedmon let him live; he had a much more sinister plan in mind for him. He knew that. He knew Piedmon better then anyone. Gennai looked up around him, trying to see what he already knew. He moved his head towards the table.the eggs were gone.  
  
"Azulongmon." Gennai whispered before he felt himself lose consciousness again.  
  
~  
  
Piedmon now found himself deep within the caves of Infinity Mountain. This would be perfect.he thought to himself. He carefully put the eggs down and looked around him. It was cold and dark. He liked it. He then turned to the eggs.  
  
"Well, do we want to find our DigiDestined, little ones?" he asked. As if on cue, the eggs glowed in response to their master.  
  
"Bwhahahahahaha!" Piedmon laughed with glee.  
  
"Well then, let's get your Digivices and crests, shall we?" His voice was again followed by the glowing of the eggs. Piedmon held his hands out wide and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the powers of both himself and his viral friends. He felt a great power around him as he searched for the spirits of their DigiDestined through each Digimon. He felt it growing as next to each egg a small round device appeared. The eggs glowed as they poured their power into their Digivices. Piedmon did the same. Although he couldn't see his DigiDestined, he could feel them. Their strength, their bond, they were a part of each other. It felt warm and good. He powered his strength into his own Digivice. Then next to each device, a small necklace with a triangle object appeared. The crests.  
  
Piedmon relaxed. He felt the procedure completed. He had done it; they had done it. They created their own Digivices and crests, but best of all each one of then could feel the existence of their DigiDestined. They truly had partners. Partners that would make them powerful!  
  
Piedmon opened his eyes; he could now see the small Digivices and crests by each Digimon. He looked down at his own feet and saw the same items in front of him. He picked them up, looking at the shiny Digivice, HIS Digivice. It wasn't like the original children's or the new ones. It was round and light. There were two buttons and his was gold in color. He pressed on of the buttons. He was startled as a hologram screen appeared over the device. There was a 3D picture on him and information about himself. He smiled as he admired himself, and noted how high his power level was. He then pressed the second button. The screen changed into another one. This time Piedmon knew what it was immediately. It was a contact screen, allowing his DigiDestined to have contact with him or another in the group. He put the small device into his pocket carefully. Then held up his crest. It was like the DigiDestined's crests, only it was triangular and inside was a small dark stone. It surprised him when he realized there was no symbol telling him what the crest stood for. He carefully looked at all the other crests. They were the same as his, no symbol. Then he realized that perhaps the crest would be activated when the child activated it. Nonetheless, this didn't bother him. He had made sure each Digivice gave out just enough power so that the Digimon didn't need the crests to evolve. The crests existed to help make the evolved Digimon stronger.  
  
He then looked down at the eggs again.  
  
"Well, who wants to find their DigiDestined first?" he asked slyly. Each egg glowed wildly, hoping their master would choose them. He laughed at their eager response, then put his finger to his lips as he thought. "Well, I could go find my child first.or.maybe I should save the best for last." He looked at the glowing eggs and decided exactly how he would choose who would go first.  
  
"I have decided!" he announced, as if expecting some tremendous reaction. "I shall let you call your own DigiDestined to you! It will help increase your bond as partners. But you wouldn't all go at once.you will go in the order you were defeated, and your eggs shall wait at the exact place you were finally defeated." He raised his hands and a tremendous explosion followed. The eggs shot off across the Digital World-all but Devimon's.  
  
"You were defeated here, my young brother, and you are safer to not be in the open. Call your child to you. When you do, alert me immediately. I want to know as soon as you are free. I now have some things to attend to," Piedmon said, then disappeared.  
  
Devimon's spirit smiled inside his egg. Finally, their master had returned to free them. He couldn't wait to see his DigiDestined. And a rematch with Angemon wouldn't be bad, either. He wondered what his own child looked like. And he also wondered if his child would care for him the same as TK cared for Angemon. He pondered these things for a moment, then decided to get to work. He would never know if he didn't concentrate. He thought about his child; he searched for the connection between them. He had to call them here, to bring them safely to him. He concentrated hard. He started to feel it.  
  
"Come to me." his voice whispered.  
  
~  
  
A young girl sat alone in her room. She was lying back leisurely in her chair, just looking out the window. She felt so bored. There was nothing for her to do.  
  
She didn't have many friends. In fact, a lot of people were scared of her and mistook her love of dark colors for being gothic. The fact that she loved old weapons didn't help ether. Hung around her room in a lovely display were swords, bows, and other interesting weapons. As a young girl she took an interest to them when her mother had taken her to a medieval display at the museum. Of course, she barely spoke to her mother now. She barley spoke to anyone; she felt different. She was alone. She had once been in love with someone, but was shunned for her choice of lover. Later even her lover shunned her for it.  
  
She sighed and walked across the room; maybe downloading some cool movies would make her feel better. She turned the computer on and played with her loose strands of black hair as she waited for it to boot up.  
  
Suddenly, a weird image appeared. Instead of her desktop coming up, she saw a dark cave.A strange dark cave. She leaned in closer.  
  
"Stupid computer." she muttered; she tried to fiddle around with the buttons on the keyboard, but nothing worked.  
  
"I can feel you." a voice hissed. She spun around, looking for the bearer of the voice. There was nothing.  
  
Great, now you're hearing things.she said to herself. Normally, she was more calm and colleted, but something in that voice made her heart beat faster. Turning back to the screen, she could now see more and leaned in closer. She could see what looked like a black egg with a red bat on it. It captivated her, and she didn't know why. It felt familiar, like it was someone she knew. As soon as she started to feel these things, the small red object next to the egg in the screen started to glow. It was a dark glow, but to her it was beautiful. He eyes fixed on it. She felt the urge to reach out and touch it. Before she could stop herself, she reached out towards the screen. She screamed as a black smoke grabbed her and pulled her forward. She felt herself falling and reached out to stop herself.  
  
She hit the cold ground with a thud.  
  
"Damn it!" she yelled in anger. But no words could she utter to describe the feeling she felt when she realized she was now inside the place she had just been looking at. She looked around, confused for a moment.  
  
"What the hell was that?" she finally said. Her voice echoed off the walls of the cave. She looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. When she looked down, she realized that she had something in her hand. She lifted it up carefully and opened her hand, revealing the object. There in her hand was the small round glowing object she had reached out for. It still seemed to glow in her palm.  
  
"Great, now I'm really losing it.and talking to myself to boot." she grumbled as she got up and dusted the dirt off her pants. Her pants, she realized. These weren't HER pants! She looked herself over. She was wearing a completely different outfit-not that she minded. The high black boots, skintight pants, and black top looked great and she loved it, but how did the clothes get on her? She tried to analyze her current situation when she heard the voice again.  
  
"You're not alone, you know."  
  
"What?!" She spun around. In front of her, the strange black egg glowed. She moved closer to it and for some reason was completely unafraid.  
  
"You're not alone; I'm here with you. I've been waiting for you. You and I are meant to be together," it whispered.  
  
"What, where.who are you?" she asked in wonder.  
  
"Touch my egg and find out," it said. She was a little hesitant, afraid of what might happen, but the glowing egg was drawing her to it, and she felt more than anything in the world she HAD to touch it. She reached one long finger over and carefully touched the strange egg. There was a flash of black light; she covered her eyes, trying to defend herself. When the light died away, she looked up to see a small, floating, ball-like creature. Her eyes were wide as she watched the frantic little creature flying around her, looking her all over. It then stopped and just stared at her with a blank expression. Finally, she couldn't take it.  
  
"What the hell are you looking at you fluffy little rat?!" she shouted. The creature's face lit up with excitement.  
  
"You!" it said. "You're nothing like I thought you would be.you're so...so...beautiful!" it finally shouted, as it started circling her again.  
  
"Beautiful?" she echoed, not expecting the answer she had gotten.  
  
"Yeah! I thought I would get a boy, but you! You're much better! I like you; you have spunk! We're going to be a great team, I know it!" the little ball said. Now her head was spinning as she watched it flying around her.  
  
"Stop doing that!" she ordered suddenly. The little creature looked hurt for a minute, but then smiled again.  
  
"You're just like me! Nasty!" he said, baring his teeth.  
  
"What?! Look, who are you.wait no, what are you and where am I?!" she asked, getting annoyed.  
  
"Me? I'm DemiDevimon! I'm your Digimon partner, and you're here in the Digital World!"  
  
"You're a what?" she said, a little confused.  
  
"Better sit down, hot stuff, this may take awhile. What's your name, anyways?" he asked as he perched on a nearby rock and waved for her to come over.  
  
"Ah.Teena.Teena Megumi," she said, and walked over closer to him. What choice did she have?  
  
"That's a pretty name. Don't worry; I'll tell you everything!" he assured.  
  
~  
  
Piedmon walked through the Digital World. He needed an opponent. Someone powerful; he wanted to test his strength. He walked through a dark wood. This place is perfect, he thought. Places like this are full of horrible creatures. I should know, I am one, he said to himself. He looked around; suddenly his senses picked up something. He smiled as he saw a large dinosaur coming toward him. He reached into his pocket and held out the Digivice, interested to see what it would do. A hologram appeared instantly. "DarkTyrannomon." he said softly. He looked at the stats. "Just a Champion?" he remarked, a little disappointed.  
  
"Just a Champion! What are you talking about? I'll show you!" DarkTyrannomon charged at him. Piedmon laughed and gracefully dodged him.  
  
"Well, now aren't we frisky?" Piedmon taunted. Piedmon then drew one of his swords, and as DarkTyrannomon turned around to attack Piedmon, thrusted it through him. He immediately fell down, wounded.  
  
"Oops, did I do that?" he asked as he walked over to the helpless Digimon. Piedmon smiled evilly and put his free hand on the Digimon. He relaxed himself. He suddenly felt his muscles twitching. The Digimon screamed in pain, but Piedmon didn't care. He was too busy enjoying the power that had begun to flow through him. He closed his eyes, wanting to feel every bit of his strength growing. It felt so good, but his eyes snapped open as he felt the flowing power stop. He looked down at the creature; it looked old and withered. Piedmon pulled his hand away and in an instant the Digimon became digidust. Piedmon just looked at the place the Digimon had been, then burst out laughing.  
  
"Bwhahahahahaaha! My, that was interesting!" He looked himself over. He hadn't grown larger this time, but then again, he had adsorbed not nearly as much power as when he escaped the gate. "I must find more to feed me." he said happily. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a beeping in his pocket. He removed the small Digivice and saw the image of a young girl looking back at him.  
  
"Who is this guy, Demi? He's one ugly case!" Teena asked the little ball perched on her shoulder. Piedmon frowned.  
  
"Well, it appears you have found your DigiDestined," he said, giving her an evil look, which she quickly returned.  
  
"Charming." Piedmon said dryly. "I want you to head towards Server and meet up with Etemon, understand? Once you are there, contact me."  
  
"Yes, sir!" Teena replied with a smirk. Piedmon just frowned and turned off the screen. He closed his eyes and called to his friend. "Etemon, it's your turn." he whispered.  
  
~  
  
Teena shoved the device onto her leg band and turned to her partner. It had taken some time for her to understand everything he had told her. But even though it wasn't all clear, she knew enough to go back to her old self.  
  
"So, where is this Server?" she asked as they walked out of the caves.  
  
"It's across the ocean," he said. Now they had come to the opening and she could see the place he was talking about.  
  
"Great, so how do we get there? I'm not allowed to fly with out my license." she said sarcastically. He just looked at her, confused, then smiled.  
  
"Hold out you Digivice!" he instructed. She reached down and picked it up, then held it out in front of her.  
  
"Now concentrate, concentrate on me, okay?" he continued, excited, knowing full well what would happen.  
  
"What?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.  
  
"Just do it!" he said, trying to not overexcite himself.  
  
"Fine." Teena looked at the device in her hand and tried to concentrate. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but she tried hard. She concentrated on a picture of her Digimon in her head. About two minutes had passed; she was about give up and say that this was stupid, when the device started to glow! She stood back in shock as her partner started to glow red. Then the glowing began to grow and take on a new shape.  
  
"DemiDevimon, digivolve to.!" he shouted, as his wings grew larger and arms and legs formed.  
  
"Devimon!" His voice deepened, sending shivers down the back of his DigiDestined and all the creatures on File Island. Teena looked up at the dark figure in front of her. He must have been at least seven feet tall. His eyes were wide and glossy. Devimon smiled, pleased that he had made an impression on her. He kneeled down close to her and held out his long arm. She just stared at him, still in shook.  
  
"Take my hand, I'll do the flying." He smiled. Teena's face suddenly lit up.  
  
"Cool! You're.you're incredible!" she exclaimed, taking his hand. Devimon lifted her up in his arms and spread his enormous wings. He jumped up and the two took off into the sky, laughing.  
  
~  
  
Meanwhile, Azulongmon rested in his home. For some reason he felt a shiver go down his back. Something felt wrong and he couldn't quite understand what it was.while deep in the deserts, a small egg glowed as it called out for its partner. 


	3. And then there were Three

Erika Varco walked alone through the halls of Odaiba Middle School. She watched the groups of chatting girls in the social cliques. As she walked by they would always give her a funny look. Not that there was anything wrong with her; she was a very pretty girl. She had jaw-length dark brown hair with blond highlights and dark chocolate eyes, almost black. Perhaps that was the problem; a lot of the older girls were jealous of her.  
  
She was walking by a group of prissy girls when one of them stuck out their foot and tripped her. Erika screamed as she fell over.  
  
"Walk much, freak?" one of them laughed.  
  
"What's your problem!" she snarled, starting up to face the other girls. Baring her teeth and ready to fight, Erika didn't notice that she was outnumbered until some of the girl's friends walked up behind her pushed her against the hall wall.  
  
"Leave me alone!" she shouted as she spun around and knocked one of the girls in the stomach, sending her to the floor.  
  
"You bitch!" one of them shouted as they started to gang up on her. Erika was a good fighter, but there were six girls and one of her. Erika was sent to the floor again, but before they could do anything to her a strange girl appeared in front of her, blocking their hits.  
  
"Takes one to know one; why don't you little Brittany Spears wannabe's go find some NSync look-a-likes to drool over before you get hurt!" she threatened, her dark green eyes glowing.  
  
"Why don't you go back to the horror movie you came from!" one of the girls yelled. By this time Erika was up on her feet and ready to pound something.  
  
"C'mon, now." she said, flipping her red hair. "You don't want to hurt my feelings, do you? And I'm sure you've figured out that the little kid here can fight.What do you say, kid? I'll get the three on the right, you take the three on the left," she offered, grinning evilly.  
  
"Sounds good to me." Erika smiled, raising her fists. The other girls' eyes grew wide.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, powder puffs, your faces will heal in time for your senior prom. Well, provided you get the name of a good plastic surgeon," the redhead taunted, raising her fists. It took all of two seconds before the six girls ran crying down the hall.  
  
"Juniors.What twits," the redhead remarked as she walked off.  
  
"Hey, wait!" Erika called, trying to stop her. "Thanks, hey what's your name? I haven't seen you around here before." The redhead turned around.  
  
"You wouldn't have; I'm a senior. My classes are on the other side of the school." She smiled a little. She not so bad for a kid, she thought.  
  
"I'm Demona Uhyre," she professed, turning around. "See ya around, kid. I've got to go back to the horror movie I came from."  
  
Erika stood there as Demona walked down the hall. Weird girl; cool, but weird.she thought. Suddenly, she felt a hand come down on her shoulder. She looked up to see a stern man; he looked like a teacher, but there was something strange about him. He had heavy glasses covering his eyes.  
  
"Now what was all that, about young lady?" he asked in a strange accent. Erika didn't see him watching. Did he see the fight?  
  
"Come with me, young lady," he ordered, and led her down the hall.  
  
Damn it! Erika thought. I'm in trouble; just great. I don't need detention today.  
  
The man led Erika into the computer lab. She looked around, wondering what was going on.  
  
"What are we doing here?" Erika asked suspiciously.  
  
"Well, I though you might want to see something," he said, grinning.  
  
Oh God, he's a pedophile! Erika thought. She moved back toward the door, but he grabbed her arm.  
  
"Oh no, my dear, I know you want to see this." he said, pointing at a computer monitor. Suddenly it lit up. Erika screamed as he threw her into the light. In a flash she was gone. He started to laugh maniacally.  
  
"She's all yours, my friend." he said as he removed the glasses, revealing his ruby eyes. The man's figure transformed into that of a large clown.  
  
"Ahhhrgh!" Piedmon yelped, hitting his head on the ceiling. He crouched down and started to laugh again.  
  
"I forgot, I'm taller now." he said, smiling. "Etemon: Devimon and his brat partner are headed your way. I want you to wait for them. Explain everything to the girl, and try not to annoy the hell out of her." Piedmon said.  
  
"Yes sir.." a voice said. "Thank you for helping me get her here, master; I was having trouble contacting her without the computer."  
  
"Yes, yes, anyway, now I must go and make sure that Myotismon and LadyDevimon find their partners before any digibrats notice their Digieggs lying around in plain sight."  
  
With that, the computer went black. Piedmon then took the shape of a young boy. Lucky the first little bitch had a computer; what if the rest of them don't? If they don't, their Digimon well find it very hard to contact them. Their partner bond is not that great yet. I suppose I'll have to help them, then. Funny how things never go the way you plan them, he thought. He then pulled out the crests and his Digivices from his pocket.  
  
"Lucky I have these to help me track them down," he grinned.  
  
~  
  
Erika found herself lying in sand. "What was that?" she thought. She stood up and brushed the sand off her purple skirt.  
  
"Hey wait!" she shouted. "These aren't my clothes!" Erika looked at her herself. She was wearing dark brown, laced boots that just went up past her ankles, plus a dark purple skirt with string tied across the high slits on the side and black tight shorts underneath. Her top was a shiny black tank top with a mesh from her neck down a little past her collarbone.  
  
"Freaky cool!" she marveled, admiring herself. "Hey, I have purple gloves to match.I can deal with this, as long as that pervert didn't drug me and use me as his Barbie doll then drop me off in the middle of nowhere," she remarked, looking around. There was sand as far as the eye could see.except for the orange egg in front of her.  
  
Strange place for an oversized chicken to lay an egg, she thought, walking over closer to it. Something shiny in the sand caught her eye; she bent down and picked it up. It started to glow yellow as soon as she touched it.  
  
"Ahhh!" she cried, dropping it. She bent over and looked at it suspiciously. She didn't know why, but it was drawing her to it.  
  
"It's okay.take it, it's yours," a voice said.  
  
"What?" she gasped, spinning around. Nothing; there was nothing but sand.  
  
"Don't be afraid, take it," the voice urged again.  
  
"Where are you?" Erika asked, still trying to see where the voice was coming from.  
  
"I'm here," it said. Erika turned around, looking now at the only object in sight: the egg.  
  
"The egg?" she wondered, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes!" it said happily.  
  
"An egg is talking to me.did I hit my head or something?" she questioned, searching her head for a bump.  
  
"No, I'm in the egg! C'mon, let me out!" it begged. Erika kneeled down next to it and picked it up, looking for a way to open it. The egg started to glow.  
  
"Yaaaaaaaah!" she yelped, and held it out away from here, then dropped it. In a flash, the light stopped. Erika looked back to see a small furry animal standing where she had dropped the egg.  
  
"Hi! I'm Gazimon!" it exclaimed, and ran towards, her wrapping his arms around her.  
  
Erika just stared at him for a second, then screamed, "CUUUUUUTE!" and hugged him back. Then she stopped and picked him up by his underarms.  
  
"Hey, what are you and how come you can talk?" she questioned, looking at him warily.  
  
"I'm your Digimon!" he shouted happily.  
  
"You a digi-who now?" she asked, a little confused.  
  
"I'm you partner!" he restated, smiling. He then hopped down and picked up the Digivice she had dropped. "Here, this is yours," he said, handing it to her.  
  
"Oh, thanks," she said, taking it from him. "Hey, what is this?" she added, examining it.  
  
"It's a Digivice, and you're here in the Digital World with me!" he announced.  
  
"Ooookaaaaay..." she said, still confused.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything, okay?" he assured, smiling. Erika got up.  
  
"Umm, great; do you mind if we get out of this heat? I know I'm losing my mind, but I'd still rather not get heat stroke," she said, looking up at the sun.  
  
"Oh, well, Piedmon said I should stay here, but I guess we can find some shade," he replied, motioning her to follow him.  
  
"What's a Piedmon?" she asked.  
  
~  
  
Back on Earth, a young girl wandered the streets. She looked down at the pavement and scuffed her feet as she walked. She had run away from home two days ago; she felt so alone. She couldn't take it anymore. For four years she felt completely rotten inside. She felt in pain.  
  
She remembered the first time she saw them. She was in her room sleeping when they came blasting through her apartment. They separated her from her parents. She was so scared. They made her line up and had to walk by a little cat. They were looking for someone. She was so scared that she snuck out of line. She remembered running through the empty halls dodging the ghosts. Terrified, she was looking behind her when she ran right into 'him'. She remembered falling on the floor and looking up. It sent shivers down her spine whenever she thought of those icy blue eyes. He had looked down at her, frowning.  
  
"Just what do you think you're doing, little girl?" he said as his large shadow cast her in darkness. She had been too afraid to say anything.  
  
"What's your name, child?" he had asked her.  
  
"J...Je.Jenny." she stuttered. He looked up and shouted "Bring Gatomon here NOW!"  
  
The little ghosts started scurrying right away. In a few minutes they had dragged the little cat in.  
  
"Is she the one?" he boomed. That cat looked at her then shook its head no.  
  
"Good." he said quietly; it seemed like no one else heard him. He bent down and whispered to her softly, "You must go back with the other children now, but don't be afraid; everything will be all right." Her eyes were wide; she could still remember how handsome he was, and how good he smelled.  
  
She had never seen him again, but she had dreamed about him many times. It was later she had found out what he and the others like him were. Digimon. How she wanted one.She had seen the DigiDestined in action once. How she hated them. She knew that they killed him, and what was worse was that they had Digimon and she didn't.  
  
"What makes them so special?!" she said out load. A person walking by gave her a funny look, which awakened her from her daydreaming. She now looked around. She saw a large building in front of her, one she remembered well. She remembered when her and the other kids woke up at the convention center; the first thing they saw was the leveled TV station. She stared up at it dreamily. Something sparkled up on the deck, catching her attention.  
  
"What the hell?" she whispered.  
  
"Come to me, Jenny," she heard a deep voice say. In a flash, she was now standing on the deck on the TV station.  
  
"Yaaah!" she cried, as she looked around, completely baffled.  
  
"Jenny.come to me, my sweet.." the voice said.  
  
Jenny turned to see a strange egg glowing in a dark fog. She felt it pulling her to it; it was like she was in a dream.  
  
"I knew you were special the first time I laid eyes on you.I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, and now I know why. Do you remember me?" it asked as it pulled her nearer.  
  
"It can't be, can it?" she gasped, now remembering the voice. She stopped in her tracks, but couldn't help being pulled forward.  
  
"It's me, Jenny; come free me, so we can be together," he said. She could almost touch it now. Her heart was beating faster then she could have ever imagined and her mind screamed "Please don't let this be another dream, please be real!" He slender fingers touched the egg. The darkness grew and in a flash of black light the little Digimon appeared. Her eyes were wide.  
  
"You're.you're real!" she cried as the little bat Digimon flew into her arms. "I'm so happy!"  
  
"Me too," he whispered.  
  
"You might need this," a voice said. She turned around to see a large clown toss her a small purple object.  
  
"You can't get into the Digital World without it." he said, smiling.  
  
"Piedmon!" the DemiDevimon shouted. "What happened to you?"  
  
Piedmon smiled. "I've just had a small growth spurt, dear brother, and I plan to have more of them soon. But don't worry about that, I'm sure you'll have plenty of your own as soon as we destroy those little digibrats and drain them of their energy." The DemiDevimon smiled wickedly at the thought of revenge.  
  
"Now, I want you to go to the Digital World and meet up with Etemon and Devimon. I will contact you when you're all together and tell you what to do next. Oh, and Jenny, I want you to take this with you; I will need you to deliver this to someone, but I'll tell you more about that later." Piedmon handed her a small chip, and then in a flash had disappeared. Jenny stood there for a moment, still in shock.  
  
"Hey, Jenny, wake up! You have to help me digivolve," the little bat urged.  
  
"Huh? Oh, right!" she said, snapping out of her daydreaming. She was still confused about a lot of things, but she didn't want to miss her chance to have her dream come true. She finally had a Digimon.  
  
"How do I do this?" she asked, looking at the small object in her hand.  
  
"All you have to do is concentrate on making me stronger. If you want me to digivolve, I can," he said, flying over to the other side of the deck in order to give them some distance.  
  
"Oh, okay." she said, trying to concentrate on making him evolve. "Hey, why are you over there?"  
  
"You'll see; just concentrate!" he said, smiling like a Cheshire cat.  
  
Jenny wrapped her hands around the Digivice. What do I think about? she wondered. Then it came to her. I know! I'll think about the way those kids made their Digimon evolve. No sooner did she start to see the image in her head then her partner started to glow. Her eyes grew wide as the small black shape started to get larger.  
  
"DemiDevimon, digivolve to.Devidramon!" he shouted.  
  
Jenny practically fell over backwards as the huge gust of wind from her partner's transformation hit her.  
  
"What?! Wow!" she exclaimed, her mouth wide open and her eyes popping out of her head.  
  
"You approve of me, then?" the large dragon asked, smiling.  
  
"Hell YEAH!" Jenny yelled, not hesitating for a second. The large Digimon crouched down.  
  
"C'mon, I know another way to the Digital World besides those stupid computers. Let's fly!" he said. Jenny felt her heart pound with excitement as she ran over to her partner. She carefully climbed up on his neck and held on tightly, feeling her heart skip a beat as he stood up and spread his wings.  
  
"And don't worry; I'll explain everything you need to know on the way." With that he jumped off of the building and flew into the air. Jenny could hear the screams of all the people below her as they looked up in sudden terror. Oh yeah, this is cool! she thought, as she looked ahead of her to see a large light forming.  
  
"Hang on, here we go!" he shouted, as they disappeared into the light.  
  
~  
  
A young girl on the street who saw what happened was completely mesmerized. Something didn't feel right, and all her warning signs had gone up.  
  
"This can't be good, something's wrong." Kari whispered.  
  
~  
  
Erika lay against a tree and relaxed as she analyzed her current situation. Her partner Gazimon had explained everything about the Digimon, what it meant to be a DigiDestined, and what those rotten brats had done to her partner and his friends. She was still in wonder of it all, but the reality seemed to be dawning on her.  
  
Gazimon had gone off to get her some water. She had to admit he was a helpful little creature, and nice too. No one had ever seemed to be so accepting of her. Maybe this whole digi-place isn't so bad, she thought. She hadn't really fit in her world; maybe she would here.  
  
Suddenly she felt a dark shadow blocking the sun.  
  
"Hey!" a voice called out. She jumped up to look around. Her eyes grew wide as a black man with wings holding a girl in his arms seemed to drop out of the sky.  
  
"Man, where the hell were you?! We've been looking everywhere for you! Didn't the "It" reject tell you that you suppose to stay where you were?" the girl asked, jumping out of the man's arms and running over to her. Who is this? Erika thought, and then she realized who she was.  
  
"Are you one of the DigiDestined?" she inquired, getting up. "Then you must be Devimon," she added, pointing at the Digimon who had now raised his wing over his partner, covering her from the heat.  
  
"I hate the sun." he said.  
  
"Yeah, so do I." the girl agreed, looking up at him, then turned to Erika. "You know, you shouldn't have made us go looking all over for you like that," Teena scolded her.  
  
"Sorry, but I didn't want to be here in the scorching heat ether," she replied angrily.  
  
"Well, I guess you have a point." Teena said thoughtfully. "Hey, where's your Digimon?" she asked, looking around.  
  
"He went to get me some water; he should be back soon." Erika said, now wondering what was taking him so long.  
  
"Aww, man; well, I guess water would be nice, but I really don't want to wait here in the heat." she complained, sitting next to Erika.  
  
"I'm Teena," she introduced, holding out her hand. "And don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because we're on the same team; you have to earn my respect." Erika realized that she wasn't kidding around as she read the phrase on her T-shirt: "That which does not kill me had better be able to run away damn fast."  
  
"Nice." Erika admired, looking at the shirt. "I'm Erika, and I completely agree with that statement; you've got to earn respect." Teena smiled as they shook hands. She isn't too bad, but I'm not going to let my guard down just yet, she thought slyly.  
  
"Hey!" Gazimon cried as he ran over with some bottles of water.  
  
"Finally." Erika said. Teena jumped up and snatched the bottles from him.  
  
"Hey!" he shouted again, as she tossed one to Erika and stared to drink the other.  
  
"Thanks, Gazimon," Erika said as she opened the bottle. The cool water felt good as it went down her throat. She then poured some in her hands and splashed it on herself. Teena walked over and handed the bottle to Devimon, who was being very quiet. Devimon felt a cool breeze as he drank the water. That's nice.he thought. The breeze suddenly picked up.  
  
"Hey, what's that?" Erika wondered, looking up in the sky. They now were all looking at the enormous black creature. Devimon smiled. "That would be my brother." Teena looked at him.  
  
"You have a brother?" she asked.  
  
"I have two brothers," he clarified as he ran over to meet the landing dragon. "Myo!" he shouted. Erika and Teena followed him.  
  
"Hey, wait don't leave me!" Gazimon called. Devidramon bent down as Jenny jumped off him.  
  
"Hey," she greeted the other girls and their Digimon. She then looked at Teena, who seemed unimpressed.  
  
"Nice shirt," she complimented.  
  
"Thanks; and the saying is true, so don't you forget it!" she said, crossing her arms. Devidramon moved forward protectively. Devimon did the same for Teena. There was silence. They stared at each other, trying to psyche each other out. Then both girls started laughing for no reason.  
  
"I have a feeling I just missed something." Erika said.  
  
"Hello, kiddies." a familiar voice said. The all looked to see a screen floating in midair.  
  
"Piedmon," Teena said dryly.  
  
"Oh, so that's a Piedmon," Erika remarked.  
  
"Yes.it's good to see you all; well most of you." Piedmon looked evilly at Teena, who just shot an evil look back at him. He then looked at the two devil Digimon. "It's very good to see you both, my brothers." Teena's eyes grew wide.  
  
"Oh, fuck me-Bozo the Clown is your bother?!" she yelled at Devimon. Devimon stood there, a little shocked; he looked at Piedmon, then at Teena.  
  
"What happened, did he inherit the family ugly gene?" Jenny teased. Piedmon looked like he was about to blow a gasket as the two girls fell over laughing, while their Digimon tried not to smirk.  
  
"No, he didn't inherit it, he is it!" Teena said, holding her stomach. Erika was now laughing, when she abruptly stopped and looked angrily at Piedmon, who was now yelling some absurd threats.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute.I know THAT voice!" she said angrily. The all stopped and looked at Erika, who was red with rage. "You're the pervert teacher who was coming on to me in the computer lab!"  
  
Piedmon's jaw almost fell off. The others just looked at him with blank expressions.  
  
"Piedmon?!" Devidramon asked, shocked. Piedmon looked at him and snapped, "Oh, you don't believe that, do you?"  
  
"I do," Teena sneered. "Don't get too close to that screen, Erika, he might just pull you in there with him."  
  
"Yeah, then he'll do all sorts of kinky clown things to you!" Jenny teased.  
  
Erika just stood there looking at them in shock, then at Piedmon in fear.  
  
"Hey, don't you touch her, Piedmon!" Gazimon shouted, waving his fist. Teena and Jenny collapsed again laughing, along with Devimon. Piedmon just slapped himself in the head. I'm going to kill that girl.he thought angrily.  
  
~  
  
Gennai woke up again. He had been unconscious for a long time. He didn't know what Piedmon had done to him, but he had to contact someone and tell them Piedmon was free before it was too late. He forced himself up and pulled himself along the floor. He couldn't let him get away with whatever it was he was planning. He had to contact the DigiDestined. He had to tell them everything, no matter what Azulongmon said; no matter what they would think of him, they had to know the truth. They had to know everything. 


	4. The first Dark Master

Kari burst in the door and startled her brother, who was watching TV.  
  
"Tai." she panted, half out of breath. "We have a problem!" She was now holding her chest in pain.  
  
"What is it, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to calm his sister.  
  
"I.I.I was walking down the street when I saw a Devidramon jump off a building!" she puffed out. Tai just raised an eyebrow, wondering about his sister's sanity. She saw this and added, "I know you think this is weird, but there was a girl riding on him. They flew into a huge light in the sky." Kari was now able to catch most of her breath.  
  
"I don't know why, but I feel like something's wrong. There was something strange about that Digimon, something bad. Tai, we have to call the others." she insisted, looking completely serious. Tai nodded. He didn't want to upset his sister, plus he didn't want to have another event like what happened eight months ago with MaloMyotismon.  
  
"I'll call everyone and tell them to meet here," he affirmed, picking up the phone.  
  
~  
  
Jenny and Erika were now flying over the Digital World, heading to some old city Piedmon had told them about. They were supposed to meet up with another Digimon there. Piedmon had told Jenny that when they got there and found the new Digimon and his partner, she was to give him the chip. Apparently back when Piedmon had ruled the Digital World with the other Dark Masters, he had created a bunch of weapons and things. She didn't really understand what it was he was talking about; all she knew was that these things would help them take back the Digital World. All the information about them was on the disk. He told them that in the city they could create these weapons for their own use. The Digimon would find they would know what to do with the chip. They were to stay in the city, while Teena collected the other two DigiDestined and Digimon in the Digital World. She would then meet them there.  
  
"So, what do you think these new weapons are like?" Erika asked, hanging tightly onto Jenny's waist so she wouldn't fall off. Gazimon sat in her arms so he was between the two girls.  
  
"Who knows? If you want my opinion, it could be anything. That clown is crazy," she asserted, looking back at Erika. She then smiled evilly and teased, "So, are you going to ask him out?"  
  
"Oh God! Don't say such things!" Erika shuddered at the thought. Jenny just laughed.  
  
~  
  
Meanwhile Devimon and Teena flew over the ocean. The cool air made her braided hair start to mess up. She shivered slightly as the cold wind picked up. Devimon noticed this and held her tighter, then moved his large arms back and forth warming her skin.  
  
"Thanks..." She said smiling up at him. Devimon smiled down at her. She looked so lovely as the sun bounced off her pail skin. He had felt strange the moment he first saw her, he had never seen a girl so lovely. She was perfect, he thought. Everything he wanted. Nothing, no one would take her from him. He wasn't sure what exactly Piedmon's plan was, but knowing him, their DigiDestined were just stepping stones. He figured that they would become slaves just like all the other humans would when they had conquered both worlds. Slaves or worse.He shuddered at the thought. Regardless of what his fellow Virus Digimon did with their children, Teena would stay with him. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He had only known her for a few hours but he felt an incredible connection between them. He smiled down at her again. She noticed this and just gave him a funny look.  
  
"What?" she asked. He smiled again, "Nothing my dear." He said. Teena looked at him then just shrugged her shoulders, and looked out at the sea. "Beautiful" he whispered.  
  
~  
  
Kari sat in the room. Most of the DigiDestined were there: Ken, Yolei, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Tai, TK, and Joe. Mimi was online in America, talking to them through chat; Davis was late (of course). All of their Digimon were there and sat quietly. Kari got up and said, " I guess we should start without Davis." Just then she hear a large crash.  
  
"WAIT! Don't start without us!" Davis cried as he burst through the door, completely out of breath.  
  
"We would have been here sooner if Davis hadn't spent all day fixing his hair!" DemiVeemon announced, running into the room.  
  
"Hey!" his human shouted. "I wasn't the one who had to eat on the way; you should have eaten before we left! Then we wouldn't have had to stop!"  
  
"Davis, just sit down, Kari has something to tell us." Matt said. Davis quickly sat down as Kari explained what she had seen.  
  
"So some DigiDestined decided to go joyriding, what's the problem with that." Joe asked.  
  
"That's not the point. One, most of us DigiDestined are smart enough to not let our Digimon be seen unless it's important. Second, Kari hasn't been wrong about these things before. If she says something's wrong I believe her," Izzy informed them.  
  
"So what do we do? We can't just burst into the Digital World ready for a fight, not knowing what's going on!" Yolei pointed out.  
  
"I guess the best thing to do is to contact Gennai." Izzy theorized, hooking up his own computer.  
  
"That's a good idea. Gennai would know what's going on, if something's up," Tai said.  
  
"But wouldn't he have contacted us if there was something wrong?" Sora asked.  
  
"We can't depend on that, bad things have happened before and we waited until the threat showed itself before we did anything," Matt said.  
  
"I agree this time, if we have someone who thinks something's wrong, lets check it out. That way if something is up, we'll be ahead of the game." Ken said.  
  
"Well, I hope you're all nice and comfortable, because this might take a while." Izzy said as he searched through his computer files. They had no choice but to wait.  
  
~  
  
Taila ran down the street in a huff, her golden hair flying in the wind. Damn, I'm going to be late! she thought. She was supposed to be at her karate lessons five minutes ago. She had signed up for karate at her school because it was closer than another place that offered it. She had just moved from California to Japan, and she was new to the area. She had gotten lost halfway here and had to get herself back on track. She smiled as she saw her school; bursting through the doors, she ran down the hall towards the gym. As she got to the door, her instructor opened it and glared at her.  
  
"Only people who take karate seriously will be allowed to participate in my class. Next time come on time!" he barked as he slammed the door in her face. Taila just huffed and puffed. Normally she could talk her way out of anything, but she was too out of breath, and her instructor hadn't even given her a chance to explain.  
  
Just great! she thought as she walked down the hall. She hated it here. She had only been here for a week, but she hated it. She wanted to be back home in California, where the ocean was. Japan's waters were nothing like the ones she knew and loved. Not only that, but she hadn't made one new friend. She scuffed her lucky sneakers along the ground as she walked down the hall. Now she had to wait for her mother to come and pick her up when she got off work. She couldn't find her way around in the daylight, let alone the dark. It was going on five o'clock, so her mother wouldn't be there for another hour or so. Talia walked into the computer lab and sat down. She could search around online until then. She moved the cursor around, clicking on things, when suddenly what appeared to be a strange screen saver popped up. It looked like a warm sandy beach.  
  
"Hey!" Talia exclaimed as she attempted to get rid of it. "Damn it! Well, two can play at this game." She got up and walked over to the next computer. As soon as she touched the mouse the strange screen popped up again. Talia jumped in shock, then turned around. Her face went white. Every computer had the same picture on it. Weird.she thought as she took a step back. Suddenly, all the computers started to glow. She covered her eyes as it got brighter, and then screamed as she felt herself falling.  
  
~  
  
Talia felt warm all over as she felt herself waking up. She wondered how long she had been out for. She could hear the ocean as she tried to sit up and open her eyes. No way. she thought as she saw the clear blue waters crashing against the sandy beach. The sun was setting into the water and cast many shades of red and yellow in the sky. It was beautiful, just like home. She then heard a voice.  
  
"You're awake." it said softly. She looked to where the voice was coming from and saw an aqua blue egg lying in the sand next to a round shiny object of the same color.  
  
"What? Where am I?" she asked.  
  
"You're with me, in the Digital World," the voice said. Taila got up and moved closer to the egg.  
  
"Are you talking to me?" she asked as she bent down.  
  
"Yeah, I am," it confirmed. "Hey, pick up the Digivice and let me out, will ya?!" it demanded as the egg glowed.  
  
"Digivice.you mean this thing?" she inquired, picking it up. As soon as she did, the egg began to glow so bright she had to shield her eyes. When it stopped, she looked to see an amphibian-like creature gazing at her with big red eyes.  
  
"Hi! I'm Betamon, and we're partners!" it proclaimed.  
  
"You're who? My partner?" she asked.  
  
"Hey!" another voice called out. Talia fell over as she watched a large winged man land in front of her.  
  
"What the?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear.  
  
"So, you must be one of the new DigiDestined," a girl with long black hair commented, eyeing her up. "I'm Teena, and this is Devimon," she explained, holding out her hand.  
  
"Hey Devimon, how's it going?" Betamon questioned.  
  
"Very good, though it's been a while since I've seen you. I believe last time you weren't so small," he teased. Betamon frowned.  
  
"I'll be towering over you soon enough!" he shot back. Talia just lay in the sand dumbfounded for a moment, then reached up and took Teena's hand. She pulled her up off the ground.  
  
"I'm Talia," she explained hesitantly, and started to brush the sand off of her jeans. "Hey.these aren't my clothes!" she said in shock.  
  
"So I take it from the looks of you that you have no idea what's going on, do you?" Teena asked.  
  
"Umm...no, I don't." Talia replied, examining herself. She was happy to find her sneakers remained the same.  
  
"Teena, it's getting dark. I think we should find a place to camp for the night. Both of you will need rest," Devimon said as he watched the sun fade into the sea.  
  
"Yeah, I'm getting hungry, too," Teena noted, hearing her stomach growl. "Too bad clown-boy didn't leave us some sleeping bags or food," she added.  
  
"Oh, boo hoo, I didn't think you would need things like that, you being so tough and all," the now-familiar voice said. Teena saw the screen where the evil clown was laughing at her.  
  
"Oh, go away! Are you going to watch us while we sleep now?!" she accused, having had her fill of the arrogant Digimon. Piedmon smiled evilly "Well, now that you mention it, how about I come and tuck you in, little girl?" He gave her a lustful look which shut her up for a moment. Devimon glared at him; he simply smiled back and said, "Don't worry, I have better things to do with my time. Anyway, I do have some backpacks here with camping supplies, food, and lots of things you'll find useful. There's one for every DigiDestined; I thought that while on Earth I'd pick up some things to make you feel more at home."  
  
"You probably stole them." Teena commented.  
  
"Hey Teena, who is this guy?" Talia questioned, pointing at the screen.  
  
"Well, if you don't want them." he said slyly.  
  
"Wait! We want them!" Talia cried out. "I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to sleep on the ground!"  
  
"Well, perhaps if you apologize." Piedmon smiled evilly at Teena.  
  
"Bite me!" she replied. He frowned.  
  
"Well then, if you don't want to be nice, you will have to suffer." Piedmon glared.  
  
"Wait, please!" Talia interjected, getting an idea. "I'm sure a man of your standards wouldn't stoop to her level. Your much more mature than that," she flattered, smiling. Piedmon ate it up.  
  
"Well." Piedmon smiled. "Very well, but I promise you, Teena: If your attitude doesn't change, you will regret it." With that, he disappeared. Two backpacks appeared beside them.  
  
"Oh, I'm so scared," Teena growled under her breath.  
  
"You should be." Devimon warned. This got a surprised reaction from his partner. "I'll do everything I can to protect you, but Piedmon is not someone you want on your bad side. He's very powerful, Teena, and completely unpredictable." Teena flashed him an angry look, then turned to Talia.  
  
"And what was that all about?" she charged.  
  
"Hey, let the clown think what he wants if it means we get the bags. I don't care what he thinks; I didn't mean a damn thing of what I said," she assured. "But you didn't have to apologize and we still got the stuff."  
  
"You're a sneaky one, good stuff," Teena approved, smiling, then bent down to pick up the bag. She figured the red one was hers and the aqua one was Talia's. On the side of each bag was a sleeping bag of a similar color.  
  
"Hey! This thing is light! Wonder what's in here" Talia speculated, sitting down in the sand; Teena sat down next to her.  
  
Talia opened the bag and thought she was going to die. Teena's eyes grew wide when she did the same.  
  
"What the.?!" she marveled as she started to empty the bag. Inside both bags they found a jacket, clothes, underwear, socks, a pair of boots, some food, matches, bathing suits, pots, soap, other cleaning products, and more. But the thing that made them both go white was the shiny laptop. They both had one in their color.  
  
"Wow.the clown knows how to shop." Talia remarked as she looked at the computer.  
  
"Now I know he stole this." Teena said, not wanting to sound as impressed as she was. Talia then noticed Betamon was missing.  
  
"Hey where did the little green guy go?" she queried as she started to repack her bag.  
  
"I'm here," he affirmed as he trotted up from the water. Underneath him were about ten large fish.  
  
"I thought I'd get us something for dinner. We should save some of the food for an emergency," he said. Teena had now gotten up.  
  
"Lets eat then!" Teena insisted.  
  
"We can make camp in the forest." Devimon said. "Staying here in the open isn't a good idea. We can eat after we find a place to camp, and then we can explain what's going on to our new friend here."  
  
Teena nodded and threw her backpack over her shoulders. Devimon carried the fish and led them through the woods. Talia held her Digimon tightly as they walked through the dark forest.  
  
~  
  
Jenny and Erika had made camp in Myotismon's old castle. They felt safe being somewhere one of their Digimon was familiar with. Jenny snuggled into her sleeping bag. Devidramon held out his large claw and wrapped it around her, pulling her close to him. She smiled up at her Digimon.  
  
"It was nice of Piedmon to give us this stuff," she remarked, looking over at Erika. Gazimon was snuggling in next to her. She giggled as his fur tickled her.  
  
"Yeah; I guess I still don't like him though." Erika smiled.  
  
"Yeah, me neither. He creeps me out," Jenny admitted, closing her eyes.  
  
"Yes.Well, regardless, you girls really made him mad today. You should be more careful-Piedmon is dangerous. You forget that he might hurt you," Devidramon whispered. Of course both Digimon had begun to develop feelings for their DigiDestined. They cared for them very much; Devidramon especially because he had already met his DigiDestined four years ago. But both of them were in the stage were they cared more about revenge, and themselves. These DigiDestined were just tools. They weren't ready to take Piedmon on to protect their DigiDestined.Little did they know that this would change.  
  
~  
  
The DigiDestined still sat in Kari and Tai's living room. Izzy was still searching for Gennai, but was having problems. Kari was now watching TV like the rest of them. They were all worried now. They hadn't been able to get a hold of Gennai and they had been trying for four hours. It was now nine o'clock at night.  
  
"And now for the news." the TV reporter said. All of them were bored and tired. Then Davis saw it.  
  
"Hey, look you guys!" he exclaimed, pointing at the screen. They saw some junky footage of a large black creature jumping off of a building and flying into a light.  
  
"That's what I saw." Kari said. "But there was a girl on its back."  
  
"Hmm." Matt just sat, thinking.  
  
"And in recent news, there are four young girls missing tonight. Teena Mehumi was in her room this morning, but when her mother came in to see her, she was gone." A picture of a girl with black hair appeared on the screen.  
  
"Hey, do you think that this might be important? The last time children when missing it was because of a Digimon." Cody said, who had joined them later that afternoon.  
  
"I don't know." T.K confessed. Now all of the kids were watching.  
  
"Erika Varco was reported to not have attended afternoon classes, or even come home," the announcer continued. "Talia Venu was also reported missing a few hours ago. Apparently she had shown up for her karate lessons at Odaiba Middle School, but was unable to attend them. She hasn't been seen since. And Jenny Satoshi has also gone missing later this morning."  
  
"Hey!" Kari cried, pointing at the picture. "That was the girl!"  
  
"Are you sure?" Ken asked.  
  
"Yes! That's her!" Kari shouted.  
  
"Quiet!" Sora said, trying to shush them. "We don't know if these cases are linked. The only thing that all four girls shared was they all went to Odaiba Middle School."  
  
"So." Tai said, looking at Kari. "Tomorrow's a day off; do you want to check out the school?" he asked. Kari nodded.  
  
"I think Kari's right," Ken said. "Something's wrong. I can feel it. When I saw that footage I just felt cold all over."  
  
"I agree.I don't like this. The fact that we can't find Gennai is worse." TK added.  
  
"Okay, listen up. This is what we'll do," Tai commanded. "Izzy: you, Yolei, and Cody stay here. I want you guys to contact Gennai; at the same time, look up that Digimon we saw. I want to know everything about it. Ken, you and Davis try to contact the other DigiDestined around the world. Find out if anything weird has been going on and if any of them know those girls. Especially the one with the Digimon. It's a long shot, but we need to know if anyone else knows her. Tell Mimi she can do the same. Sora, Matt, and Joe can find out where those girls live. Talk to their parents-I want to know everything. And find out if they have friends that could help us. The rest of us will sneak into the school and look for clues. We'll meet back here; you can all spend the night if you like. I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind. Because if we haven't heard from Gennai by morning, I want to have a group of us go to the Digital World. I'm sure we all feel the same on this one. Something's up and I for one don't want to wait around to find out some creep has been plotting something again." They agreed and moved out, each group starting their own task.  
  
~  
  
Piedmon sat on top of a large building in his true form. He looked out at the bright lights and loud noise coming from the city. He smiled to himself. "These humans have no idea what I've got in store for them." he chuckled. "Soon these buildings will be gone and both worlds will cower before me. They'll all pay!" 


	5. Two down Two to go

Jenny woke up to the smell of food. Her eyes were still heavy with sleep. She got up and stretched her arms out; as she did so, she felt something large rub up against her.  
  
"Umm." she sighed. "Good morning, Devidramon." she greeted as the large dragon nuzzled her softly.  
  
"Good morning, Jenny. Did you sleep well?" he questioned.  
  
"Yeah, I did." She turned around and rubbed his nosed and forehead. When she did, he made a sound that reminded her of purring.  
  
"Do you like that?" she asked happily.  
  
"Oh, yes." he replied, closing his eyes and enjoying her hands patting him. Suddenly, Jenny got up and started to look around.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing?" Devidramon asked, wanting her to come back and pay attention to him.  
  
"Where's Erika?" she wondered, walking off.  
  
"Wait, come back! What about me?" he whined. Leave it to humans to neglect the important things.ME! Devidramon thought as he got up to follow her.  
  
"Hey Erika!" Jenny shouted, looking around.  
  
"I'm over here!" a voice shouted back. Erika then appeared. Jenny's eyes grew wide as she saw Erika riding on a colossal green dinosaur. "Sorry, we went off to find more food and we got attacked."  
  
"Are you okay?" Jenny inquired, still a little shaken.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Look, Gazimon evolved!" she bragged, smiling. "This is Tuskmon." Erika hopped off the Digimon. Jenny smiled in return.  
  
"Let eat and get out of here," she suggested.  
  
~  
  
A few hours later, five other children could be seen walking through the forests of Server. They hadn't heard anything from Gennai, and all their attempts to find out anything about the missing girls had pretty much failed. They only had one source left to check. Apparently, some girls in Odaiba Middle School had been threatened by Erika and another girl that day, just before Erika had been noted missing. Kari and Tai were going to find the other girl and talk to her.  
  
"So what are we looking for?" Cody asked.  
  
"When we first came here, Gennai lived in a little house in a lake. It was right next to Myotismon's old castle, but I'm having trouble remembering exactly where that is." TK explained, a little worried.  
  
"I'll say! We're lost! We've been wandering around here for hours, TS!" Davis complained, getting impatient.  
  
"Damn it! Don't you know my name yet?! It's TK! And we aren't lost; we just don't know where we are!" TK snapped.  
  
"Isn't that the same thing?" Yolei whispered. TK flashed her an evil look and she bit her tongue.  
  
"Hey, TK." Davis started.  
  
"WHAT?!" he shouted.  
  
"I think we found it.." he declared, pointing to the large lake next to a ruined building. They all sweatdropped. TK just grunted something; none of them had gotten much sleep and they were all grumpy.  
  
"Okay, you said the opening was around the lake somewhere, right? Where do you want me to look?" Cody asked, trying to be helpful.  
  
"I don't know," TK replied. "The first time we came here, we followed a light."  
  
"Why don't we split up and circle the lake in groups?" Ken suggested. The group nodded and split up.  
  
~  
  
Talia was now sitting next to a dying fire, making breakfast. Considering all that had happened to her, she was taking things rather well. Teena had gone off somewhere with Devimon and now she was alone with Betamon. The little Digimon was indulging himself in fish. It had surprised both girls when they saw how much their Digimon could eat. He was right about saving their food; they would need every bit of it. Who knew when they would get lost or something?  
  
"Hey, Talia? Want to go swimming?" Betamon asked suddenly.  
  
"Swimming?" She thought for a moment. It had been a while since she had gone swimming and she missed it.  
  
"Are you sure? It might not be safe?" she said, trying to be cautious. She wasn't sure she wanted to go swimming in the oceans her;, the thought of what might be in the water frightened her.  
  
"Don't worry, I ruled these oceans, I'll protect you," he assured, hopping over to her. He started to nuzzle her legs, then hopped up into her lap like a cat.  
  
"Pleeeeaaaaaase?" he whined, giving her a puppy stare. She couldn't resist.  
  
"Okay. I'm sure Teena and Devimon will find us later."  
  
~  
  
Meanwhile Devimon and Teena were wandering deep into the forest.  
  
"So, where are we going again?" Teena asked.  
  
"When the Digital World was reconfigured to Spiral Mountain, these forests became Puppetmon's domain. He was destroyed somewhere in here. We should try and find his egg and wait for his DigiDestined to arrive."  
  
"So we're in the middle of a huge forest looking for a little egg? Just great," she protested unhappily. Devimon just smiled at her. Teena noticed he had been doing this a lot lately and she didn't know why.  
  
"What? Why do you keep doing that?" she stopped and demanded. Devimon turned around to look at her. He walked up close to her; she now had to look up to see him. He put his large hand on her shoulders and stared at her deeply. Teena felt her heart skip a beat. He just stood there, then said, "We should get going." With that he turned around and continued walking.  
  
Teena was a little stunned but quickly brushed it off. Devimon, however, was kicking himself. He could have told her. He couldn't help the way he was feeling. He had been the first one defeated, and had spent the longest time alone. He had thought of many things in this time, the most important being that if he was ever freed he would do things right. He would take time to enjoy his life and not spend all him time thinking about power or revenge. Teena had given him a second chance when she freed him. She would be the only one who understood him. He didn't want to lose her by doing something stupid, like telling her how he felt.  
  
Suddenly, a voice broke his thoughts. He turned around and there stood a strange human girl. Beside her was a little Mushroomon.  
  
"Hey, where have you been? We've been waiting here all night!" the little Digimon demanded. The young girl didn't say anything. Her pale skin and white hair shone as rays of light hit her. She was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and was silent. She still couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.  
  
She had been about to go to bed and was checking her e-mail when a strange screen appeared on her computer. Before she could do anything, she was sucked into it. When she had opened her eyes, she was here in the forest. She had felt something calling her, and went searching for it. What she found was a small egg and what she now knew as a Digivice. The little creature that appeared from the egg had told her they were partners. She was sent here to help him and his friends take back the Digital World.  
  
"Hey kid, who are you?" Teena queried. The girl looked up at her. "What's with the glasses?" Teena asked further, putting her hands on her hips. "Do you think they make you look cool?"  
  
The girl shook her head. "I have cat's eyes.I wear them so people can't see them," she explained softly.  
  
"Great! You're a misfit like the rest of us here; you'll fit in great!" Teena perked, feeling sorry for the little kid. She didn't know why she had been so nice lately. Maybe it was because she finally felt like she belonged somewhere. It was like her whole outlook on life had changed in a day. She wasn't the only one who felt this way; the other DigiDestined were starting to come out of their shells. They were happy for once.  
  
"Well, if this is the last kid we need to find, let's go back and find Talia. I'm sure sometime soon clown-boy will show up to bark orders at us, so we should all be together. Devimon nodded, and they started to walk back toward their camp. Teena suddenly turned around.  
  
"Hey, kid-What's your name?" she asked. The young girl looked up from cradling her Digimon tightly in her arms.  
  
"My name is Jane. Jane Stanton," she replied quietly, then looked at the ground.  
  
"Well, I'm Teena," she introduced.  
  
~  
  
Talia was enjoying the feeling of the warm waters. She had really missed swimming. Betamon and her were now playing hide-and-seek. He was winning, of course; she could hold her breath for a long time, but not as long as him. He seemed to always wait until she came up for air to catch her, or at least see where she was. But it didn't matter; they were both having fun. Then she got an idea. She hid behind a rock, making it obvious to be seen by him. When he saw her, she waited for him to swim around and catch her. Then as soon as he jumped out of the water to catch her, she reached out and grabbed him, tickling him mercilessly.  
  
"Ahhhhhh! No, that's not fair.!" he managed to shout out through his hysterical laughing. She let him go and swam away.  
  
"I bet you can't catch me!" she teased.  
  
"Oh yes I will, and when I do I'll give you the tickling of a lifetime!" he called, swimming after her. He hadn't had this much fun since he made his Divermon dress up and perform "The Little Mermaid". Having a digibrat wasn't bad. He was starting to like her; maybe after they took over the world he'd keep her. She'd been a great swimming partner, and would make a good little mermaid when he decided to have his Divermon perform it for him again.  
  
Suddenly, he saw a large wave starting to form in front of his child. The sea became very rough.  
  
"Talia!" he shouted as a wave knocked him back. When he re-surfaced, he saw a large Gesomon holding his DigiDestined in its tentacles. When he saw this, something snapped inside him. How dare anyone attack his DigiDestined! He wouldn't stand for it! But there was more; he felt scared. Even as MetalSeadramon when he was being deleted he was not scared, but he was now. He was scared for Talia, and he didn't know why. He felt himself growing stronger.  
  
"Betamon! Help me!" she cried in fear.  
  
"What's that runt going to do?" the Digimon chuckled. "You're dinner, little human."  
  
But what Gesomon didn't know was that he was dealing with the DigiDestined of a former Dark Master. And because of this, he could do something only the other Dark Masters could do. He could warp digivolve! And the sight of her in trouble was enough to do it.  
  
"I won't let you do it! I won't let you hurt her!" he shouted as his voice deepened. Talia watched as the Digivice hung around her neck glowed.  
  
"Betamon, warp digivolve to.!" he shouted as his body lit up and expanded.  
  
"MetalSeadramon!"  
  
The giant sea monster towered over them; the oceans bubbled around him as his voice echoed through the deepest parts of the sea.  
  
"Let her go!" His voice boomed. Talia stared in fear at him.  
  
"Lord MetalSeadramon.I.didn't know!" he gasped, dropping her and quickly turning to swim off.  
  
"Not so fast! River of POWER!" he shouted. The giant blast cast a massive wave, and Talia felt herself being pulled under. She struggled to swim back up to the top but couldn't; the water was too rough. She lost her breath and felt herself drowning.  
  
Help.she thought in terror. Suddenly, she felt something underneath her pushing her up and out of the water. She gasped for air, coughing and choking.  
  
"Are you alright?" a deep voice asked. Talia looked down to see that she was now on top of the large monster's head. The girl fell backwards in fright. She was now high above the ocean, and couldn't go anywhere.  
  
"It's alright, it's me," the voice reassured calmly.  
  
"Betamon?" she whispered as the Digimon moved his head down close to the beach. As soon as he was close enough, she jumped off and landed in the sand.  
  
"That's right, I digivolved. Remember, I explained this to you last night," he clarified. She nodded her head. "Wow.you're so.so.BIG!" she said, trying to think of something to say. He just laughed.  
  
"Bigger is better; you'll see. We can have much more fun this way. Climb up on my head again," he offered, smiling. She was hesitant at first, but then finally agreed. With that, he took off across the water; she held onto his horn tightly. She could feel the wind in her hair as he swam through the waves. He was right.this was fun!  
  
"Thanks for saving me." she said gratefully, rubbing his head. He just smiled happily. He didn't know why, but he was really enjoying this partner stuff.  
  
~  
  
Davis leaned against a tree. They had circled the lake at least thirty times, and had been there for nearly four hours. They were all hungry and disappointed. Finally, Davis snapped.  
  
"What the hell do we do now?!" he shouted, stomping his foot into the ground. The moment he did, a light appeared over the lake.  
  
"What did you do?" Veemon asked in shook.  
  
"Oh, I just used my ingenious problem solving skills," Davis boasted.  
  
"Yeah right, and I'm the queen mother." Yolei commented sarcastically.  
  
"After you, Your Majesty." Davis teased.  
  
"Okay, knock it off. Let's contact Izzy and tell him we found it," TK ordered as he opened Izzy's laptop. "Hey Izzy: We found the way in, anything new?" TK asked as they all gathered around the computer.  
  
"Not much." The image of Izzy appeared on the screen. "No one knows anything about the girl Kari saw, and we know nothing about the other girls or why they disappeared. The one thing we do know is the Digimon this Jenny was on is called a Devidramon. Lucky we were able to match the bad footage to the Digimon. But the Digimon is rare and I'm still searching for info on it."  
  
"Okay. Well, we're going to go in. We'll contact you as soon as we find something," TK said.  
  
"Sure. Just be careful," Izzy replied.  
  
"Hey, we'll protect them!" Armadillomon assured. The other Digimon quickly agreed.  
  
"Alright then.See you soon," Izzy dismissed.  
  
"Well, let's do this." TK smiled as he closed the laptop. Patamon landed on his head.  
  
"Let's just hope you can remember where to go from here," he said.  
  
"Hey! You were here too!" TK reminded him as they started to walk into the light.  
  
"Yeah, but I wasn't paying attention."  
  
~  
  
"Yeeeeeeeehaw!" Jenny shouted as they flew through the air. She could make out a round city not too far away.  
  
"C'mon, faster Devidramon!" she shouted. The large dragon smiled and sped up. She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His smile grew, and he sped up even faster so she would hold him tighter. He had never felt affection before, but he really liked it. He thought about what it would be like to show it back.  
  
Erika was having just as much fun as Jenny. Tuskmon was an incredibly fast runner and it seemed like the trees were zipping past them.  
  
"C'mon, let's beat them there!" she shouted as he shot off. Devidramon noticed this and flew even faster. It was close, but Tuskmon was smaller than Devidramon and moved quicker. Devidramon grunted to himself when he lost.  
  
"Don't worry; we'll win next time," Jenny whispered in his ear. For some reason he felt his heart jump with her warm breath close to him.  
  
"Hey, so where do we go?" Erika asked, interrupting the dragon's thoughts. The city was in ruins and looked completely dead.  
  
"I'm not sure." Jenny admitted, hopping down from her Digimon's back. They wondered through the empty streets, looking for something, anything.  
  
"Hey, what about there?" Erika questioned, pointing at a large building.  
  
"Well, let's check it out." Tuskmon said. They were walking towards the building when Jenny realized something.  
  
"Hey, how are our Digimon going to get in? Tuskmon might make it, but there's no way Devidramon will fit-the door is too small," she said, pointing at the door.  
  
"Maybe I can help you out," a voice offered. The girls turned to see a young boy standing behind them.  
  
"There is another way in, but before I show you, tell me.are you the other DigiDestined that Piedmon mentioned?" the boy asked, brushing his silvery blue hair out of his face. The girls were a little thrown off for a minute, but then they realized he was one of them.  
  
"Yeah, we're them." Erika confirmed, walking over to shake his hand. "I'm Erika, and that's Jenny," she said, smiling.  
  
"Hey. My name is Blues Hikari, but you can call me Blue if you like. Wow, the clown didn't say you girls were so pretty." he said, flirting with them. Both girls blushed; Devidramon just glared at him, but he didn't notice.  
  
"Hey, it's cool.your hair matches you name." Jenny observed as he led them around the back of the tower.  
  
"Yeah; I was named after my hair. It's kind of cool. So, did your clothes change too when you came here?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah; I think everyone's do," Erika concluded. "But I like my clothes; they're really great. When did you get here?"  
  
"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I was camping with some of my friends and I heard this strange voice.I went off into the woods to check it out. As soon as I was alone, this strange man appeared and held out a laptop.before I knew it, I was here," he testified.  
  
"That must have been Piedmon, he did the same thing to me." Erika noted thoughtfully.  
  
"Yeah, but he was coming on to you first.I think he likes you," Jenny teased.  
  
"I told you to cut that out! That guy's a total creep, and I bet his DigiDestined will be too," Erika said.  
  
"That might not be true," Devidramon spoke up. They stopped and looked at him. "Etemon's a total creep, but from what I've seen, you're pretty normal, Erika," he said.  
  
"HEY! I'm not a creep, bat body!" Tuskmon snarled as they started to argue. It took a minute for them to realize that the kids were walking off and ignoring them.  
  
"So I arrived here late last night. My Digimon explained everything to me, so we don't have to go over it. But I do need that chip Piedmon gave you; we need to get to work right away," Blue told them as they entered the building through a much larger door. Both girls nodded in agreement; they had work to do.  
  
Devidramon and Tuskmon followed closely. For some reason, Devidramon felt very threatened by this new boy. He had always been possessive of his belongings, and he considered Jenny as his. He wasn't about to let anyone take her from him.  
  
~  
  
Now that Teena and Talia had found the person they were looking for, they waited around for orders. Teena was quite imprested with Talia's Digimon; he seemed quite powerful. She wondered what Devimon would look like as a Mega. He was quite a strange one. He always seemed to look at her funny; it was freaking her out, but she had to admit he was very handsome. She felt strange around him; she even caught herself admiring him every so often. Then he would smile at her again, and she'd stop.  
  
The new girl, Jane, seemed very quiet and distant. The little Digimon with her didn't seem to mind; it was like they could understand each other without talking. Talia figured she was young and scared and would probably come around soon.  
  
"Well, it appears you're all here." Piedmon's voice said, as a screen appeared in front of them. The girls jumped with surprise; they still weren't used to him doing that.  
  
"Why do you keep popping up like that?" Talia asked. Piedmon just smiled.  
  
"I have to keep you on your toes. Anyway, what's life without some surprises?" he questioned happily, then continued, "The other girls have made it to the city. I was just talking with them; they have begun to prepare the information I sent them. There are only two more children to go before we can begin to reconfigure the Digital World. I want you to go to the city now and help the others. I must find the last two children and prepare for the takeover."  
  
"Alright." Talia said, turning to leave. Piedmon then noticed something.  
  
"My dear Teena, you have not insulted me yet today. Are you sick, child?" he asked, trying to sound sincere; however, they could tell by the smirk on his face that he wasn't. Teena just turned to him and gave him a look of death.  
  
"I have far better things to do then waste my time on you," she said snobbishly, then walked away. Piedmon turned to Devimon.  
  
"Well, that was interesting.Did you talk some sense into her?" Devimon just glared. Piedmon smiled again.  
  
"Keep her in line, Devimon. I've been watching all of you, and I know what's going on with you, so don't think that I don't. If you want to keep her, then make sure she behaves, because if she doesn't." Piedmon grinned evilly. "Brother or not, I wouldn't be belittled by some little girl who doesn't know her place, and I'd hate to have something bad happen to her, or you." he intoned, his smile now fading. Devimon could see he was completely serious. He then disappeared.  
  
Brother or not, Devimon still feared him; he always had, ever since that time so many years ago. He could barely remember what had happened.what THEY did to him. Myotismon seemed to remember just enough to not want to remember any of it. All he knew was that whatever happened, Piedmon had lost it, and that was the beginning of the Digital World's problems. It had all started way back then.  
  
Devimon followed Teena closely; he knew she was angry, mostly with him rather than Piedmon. He knew she felt like he had betrayed her when he defended his brother from the insults. But there was nothing he could do; he had to protect her. She was all he had.  
  
~  
  
The DigiDestined walked down the long hall of Gennai's hidden home. It was dark, and they could barely see where they were going. Cody was walking closely to TK as they wandered through the halls.  
  
"Why is everything so dark?" Yolei asked; her voice echoed off the walls.  
  
"Yeah, it seems so dead here. Was it always like this?" Ken whispered.  
  
"No." TK answered, his voice filled with concern. "It wasn't; this is wrong."  
  
"Maybe we should come back later." Veemon suggested, pulling on Davis.  
  
"Ah, it's okay..." Davis scooped him up. "I'll protect you." Veemon blushed with embarrassment.  
  
"I'm, not scared.I'm just hungry, that's all," he stuttered, trying to sound brave.  
  
They soon came to a set of large doors TK had never seen before, but they seemed to be blown apart. TK felt his heart skip a beat as he saw this. Without warning, he ran off thought the doors.  
  
"TK, wait!" Patamon cried, as he and the others ran after him. As they burst through the doors, they say what used to be a control room for the Digital World, now in shambles, and TK huddling over a badly injured body.  
  
"Gennai." they whispered in shock. 


	6. The Plan

Demona was in a foul mood as she walked the streets of Odaiba. She had been awoken earlier that morning. A girl from her school had come by, wanting to know if she knew some missing girl. How rude, she thought to herself.  
  
She knew the girl who had come to see her. The missing girl she had only met the other day. Strange she disappeared. But that wasn't what bothered her. It was the fact that ever since yesterday, she had had this weird feeling inside her. Like someone she knew was in trouble. Yesterday night she had a horrible dream, that somewhere, someone she cared about was trapped and needed her. Normally she didn't care for anyone; but something about the person in the dream.Something about that person was familiar. She felt like she knew them, somehow. It didn't make a lot of sense; she couldn't really describe the way she was feeling.  
  
Another thing that bothered her was that little prep. From the moment she saw her, she felt like that girl had done something horrible to her, and she didn't know why. Just thinking about her made it worse. She tried to remember the name.Kari, that was it. Kari.she was so cute and innocent it was disgusting. But something about her made her feel ill. It wasn't just the fact that she was a little goody-goody; there was something more.  
  
She walked into a park, just pondering all the strange things in her head. The hot sun beamed down on her. She hated the heat, and she hated the sun. She liked the dark, always had. Normally she'd stay indoors on a day like this, but for some reason, she wanted to walk around. She wasn't sure where she was going or why.  
  
Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks. She thought she had heard her name, but there was no one there. Demona decided to just keep walking; she was starting to feel like she was losing it. She just felt strange all over. Then she heard it again. She spun around and yelled, "What?!" But there was nothing, no one.  
  
Demona cursed under her breath. She figured the heat was getting to her. She pulled the sunglasses out of her dark red hair and adjusted them over her eyes. But as she did she heard her name again. This time when she turned around she saw small silver and black egg in the direction the voice was coming. Demona just cocked an eyebrow.  
  
"I didn't know Easter eggs came in those colors," she said, walking over to the egg.  
  
"It's not an Easter egg." a male voice informed her. Suddenly, everything became very dark and foggy.  
  
"What the hell?" Demona yelped, turning around. She nearly fell over when she saw the man behind her. Piedmon smiled.  
  
"I didn't mean to scare you, little one," he lied through his teeth. "Don't you want to meet your partner?" He then pointed to the egg. She just stared at him. Now she thought she had really lost it: a ten-foot-tall freaky clown was talking to her. He realized she was still baffled.  
  
"Just take this; you'll understand everything soon enough," he told her, throwing her a black Digivice. He didn't have time to explain to every one of these human brats what was going on; let their Digimon deal with that. Demona caught the device and before she knew it the egg started to glow. A small little puppy thing took its place.  
  
"Hi, I'm Salamon!" it said happily, running over to her and snuggling her legs. It then looked up, its big blue eyes twinkling. "I'm your Digimon, and I've waited for you for so long," she said, smiling.  
  
"Oh, how cute." Piedmon said dryly. "Tell her everything on your trip to the Digital World. I will contact you when you're all together." He held out his hand and huge light appeared, sucking Demona and Salamon in. Piedmon laughed as he heard them scream.  
  
"Now." he said. "It appears my partner is all that is left." He was about to go when a screen appeared in front of him, causing him to fall back in shock. Teena was laughing hysterically while the others smirked behind her.  
  
"Oh man! That was great!" she said, smiling evilly. Piedmon glared at her. "Oh, what's the mater, Piedmon? I thought I'd give you a taste of your own medicine."  
  
"Yeah, how does it feel, clown boy?" Jenny asked, laughing so hard she thought she'd burst. "That was great, Blue! How'd you do that?" Piedmon could see the young boy and his Digimon in the background at the main computer of Machinedramon's old tower. The whole group of them were laughing; even the quiet Jane couldn't help it. Piedmon jumped up in anger, his face as red as his jacket.  
  
"Damn it, Machinedramon! What are you doing? You're supposed to be preparing our armies for take over, not playing games!" he shouted. The large dragon didn't seem to care; it wasn't his idea to do it. But even he found it amusing.  
  
"Calm down, Piedmon; we have something important to tell you," Talia said. Piedmon just glared.  
  
"What?!" he snapped, annoyed.  
  
"Geez; if you're going to be like that, we don't have to tell you," Erika taunted. It seemed like all of them were enjoying this.  
  
"Stop acting like little children and tell me what the hell you're talking about!" he demanded, trying to calm down.  
  
"Well!" Teena scoffed, looking hurt. "Now you've just hurt our feelings.I don't think you really need to know what the DigiDestined are up too." she tantalized, trying not to smile. This got his attention.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Well, I don't know if we should tell you, now." Talia said teasingly; she couldn't help but join in on this. "You called us children; you should say you're sorry." she said, crossing her arms. Piedmon glared at the image on the screen.then an idea came to him. He gave an evil look to Erika.  
  
"Erika, if you don't tell me what's going on, I might just sneak into bed with you tonight."  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! GOD, NO!" she screamed. Tuskmon started yelling at him, but he didn't care.  
  
"Piedmon, you're one sick case, you know that?!" Jenny shouted. "You try to touch her, and I'll make sure you live to regret it!" The others were now completely serious and glared at him.  
  
"What's the matter? Can't you take a joke.?" Piedmon smiled. "Now tell me what's going on!" he ordered. Teena glared at him  
  
"We found out a group of kids are in that Gennai guy's old hideout." she said, trying to control her temper. Piedmon frowned.  
  
"Machinedramon, there is a file on that chip I sent you-The guardians used it to remove people who didn't belong in the Digital World. I want you to use it to kick those little brats out of here. You know what to do after that." he commanded, then disappeared. Teena slammed her fist on the large computer.  
  
"That asshole!" she shouted in anger.  
  
"He wouldn't really do that? Would he, Tuskmon?" Erika asked her Digimon.  
  
"No, Piedmon just likes to mess with people heads." Devimon said. "Don't let him get under your skin." Erika just held her head.  
  
"So what's the plan, then?" Jane asked. She was starting to feel a little more comfortable around the other kids now.  
  
"Okay, I'll explain everything to them," Blue said, as they gathered around him. He typed in a few keys on the keyboard and a map appeared. Machinedramon just trundled off to the other end of the room to activate the Digital World protection mechanisms on the disk.  
  
"Okay, this is the Digital World right now. What we have to do is create a shield around it, so that we can control who gets in and out. This disk can help us do that. That way, we don't have hundreds of kids showing up to fight us. Plus, not only can we prevent the DigiDestined from getting in here, we can also use it to keep the four guardian Digimon out. Without them, the Digital World will be ours to take over, or at least that's what Piedmon explained to me when I first got here," he said.  
  
"So we have to make this shield.alright, then what?" Talia asked.  
  
"I guess then we start to take over the Digital World," Blue responded.  
  
"Yeah, that's the part I never really got.why are we doing that?" Jane inquired.  
  
"Don't you get it?" Teena said. "This is our chance to have a world of our own, a world where we belong. Plus, we have to get back at those little brats for what they did to our Digimon!" she added, looking at Devimon and winking. This shocked him; Devidramon chuckled, watching his younger brother blush.  
  
"I agree; I'm tried of being a good guy and always being stepped on!" Erika put in.  
  
"Me too!" Jenny agreed. Jane looked down at her partner. The little plant Digimon smiled up at her, reassuring her they were doing the right thing. Talia and Blue were a little more down-to-earth about it, and were still wondering what was right.  
  
"I think it's time for revenge!" MetalSeadramon announced.  
  
"That's right; as soon as we kick out the guardians, we can rebuild our world, the way we want it!" Mushroomon agreed, smiling up at Jane. He liked having a friend; now when he regained his power, he wouldn't feel so empty inside. It seemed all the Digimon were eager to retake the Digital World. They were ready to fight, and punish the ones who stood in their way of power.  
  
Just then there was a large flash of light, and a girl fell onto the floor.  
  
"Owww..." she groaned. "What the hell was that?!" Demona got up to see six other kids looking at her.  
  
"Hey, I remember you!" Erika exclaimed. "You were the girl who helped me.are you one of us?" Demona just looked up, confused.  
  
"Hey, you're all the kids that were reported missing on this mornings news," she said, getting up. Salamon walked over to her and nuzzled her again.  
  
"Don't worry; you're with us now, and everything will be alright," she assured. Demona didn't know why, but for some reason she believed her. For the first time she felt like everything was right.  
  
"All right, time to take over the world." Machinedramon said, pushing a button with one of his large claws.  
  
~  
  
TK was frantically trying to revive Gennai when there was a sudden burst of light.  
  
"Hey, what's happening?!" Yolei shouted. The kids screamed as the light grew brighter. They felt themselves falling. Everything was spinning around them.  
  
"Help!" Davis shouted.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.!" Cody screamed. Suddenly, they all hit the ground with a large thump. They looked around to see Izzy just staring at them in disbelief. They were in Tai's house.  
  
"What?" Ken asked.  
  
"I think I just lost my appetite." Veemon said. Wormmon just grunted.  
  
"Hey Davis, get off me!" Yolei squealed.  
  
"What happened? I was just looking up something when all of you came flying through the computer," Izzy said. Then he noticed someone else was with them. "GENNAI!"  
  
Izzy pulled the pile of kids off Gennai, who now seemed to be coming too.  
  
"My friends.I'm so glad you're here." he whispered. They helped him to the couch, but he didn't stay awake for long.  
  
~  
  
All the DigiDestined had come over to see Gennai. They sat in the room quietly. They were silent for a long time before Izzy finally spoke.  
  
"I think I know why you were kicked out of the Digital World." he started. "It appears some program used for defense has been put into operation. Its job is to remove anyone who doesn't belong, but it goes deeper then that, though I don't understand it. From what I've found, this program is very old; it became corrupted a long time ago, but seems to be restored. I think someone it trying to keep us out."  
  
"I knew something was wrong." Kari said, looking at Gennai.  
  
"That's not all. There's more. Two more kids disappeared last night, but we still don't know anything about them," Joe informed them.  
  
"Yeah, I heard that this morning," Matt confirmed.  
  
"I also found out about the Digimon you saw, Kari," Izzy added. "Now I know it's a Virus type, but it's a very rare one. It has one natural evolution to Ultimate...Myotismon." he intoned. Everyone's eyes grew wide.  
  
"Agggghhh." Gennai moaned, waking up again. "Children, listen to me." he whispered. "...Piedmon...he's...he's free.he came to our base.he nearly killed me.he stole all our programs to protect our world." Now the group had jumped to attention. "Listen.I'm weak...I can't stay awake for long, I need rest.all I can tell you is he's back, and I think I know what he's planning.you have to find their DigiDestined before he and the others do..." he said, rambling on.  
  
"What?" Tai asked in shock.  
  
"You have to find them.take this, it will help you." he gasped, pulling something out of his pocket. "You have to find them before they do.they're just children.they don't know what their Digimon are capable of.you have to protect them." His voice faded as he drifted back into sleep, leaving the group in total disbelief of what they had just heard.  
  
~  
  
Piedmon held the small device in his large hand. It was glowing; he was getting close now. He smiled.  
  
"Soon I'll find you.then nothing shall stop me." 


	7. The Mistake

The whole group sat around Izzy's computer; he had started to sort through the files as soon as Gennai gave him the strange chip. Gennai had been sleeping on the couch. Joe had dressed most of his wounds; he would live, but they didn't know when he would wake up. They all watched and waited.  
  
"I think I know what this is." Izzy finally said. The group gathered in closer. On the screen were tiny pictures of Digimon; each one had all its stats and other information.  
  
"Okay, this program here is a record of every Digimon in the Digital World. It's quite interesting: we can use it to find any Digimon at any moment and look up their stats and more. But it gets better.According to this, every Digimon has a partner, or DigiDestined, like us. By searching for the Digimon we can also find their partner," he explained.  
  
"Come again?" Tai asked.  
  
"Okay, according to this, every Digimon has a human partner with whom they are directly linked. So using this program.by finding the Digimon we can find out about their partners.at least that's the theory. Why we want to do that is because before Gennai passed out, he mentioned something about Piedmon looking for 'their' DigiDestined. I think he meant that Piedmon has a DigiDestined; maybe all our enemies from the past did."  
  
"Why would a creep like Piedmon have a DigiDestined? And aren't all our old enemies defeated?" Kari asked.  
  
"Yeah, how could they not be?" Sora said.  
  
"Well, Myotismon did come back twice." Gatomon reminded them. "And Digimon never really die.we might have to face them all over again."  
  
"Hey, let's not jump ahead. All we really know is Piedmon is back; we don't know if any of the other evil Digimon from the past are. And we really don't know if he has a DigiDestined. What we need to do is find out," Izzy said, turning back to the computer.  
  
"Okay, well hurry up.we don't need another Digimon Emperor-no offence, Ken," Matt said.  
  
"I understand; the thought of a human the way I was combined with the Digital World's most evil Digimon is no comfort to me either," he agreed.  
  
"Yeah, that would be a bad combination." Izzy concurred. "Unfortunately, it appears Piedmon isn't in the Digital World, unless he's very good at being undetected."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't put is past him; he's a sneaky one." TK said.  
  
"Great, he's here! He could be watching us.right now...he could be right here in this room.in fact, he could be any one of us! AHHHHHHHH!" Joe screamed, overreacting as usual.  
  
"Joe!" Yolei cried, slapping him over the head. "Get a grip, he's not here!"  
  
"Sorry.It's just that psycho clown freaks me out. I still can't go to the circus, and whenever I see a clown I run away." he confessed, sobbing.  
  
"Great, I can tell you're going to be really reliable." Gomamon said sarcastically.  
  
"Guys cut it out, I'm trying to work." Izzy chided.  
  
"Well, how can you find him if he's here?" Tai asked.  
  
"Simple," Izzy began. "We use this program to search the area for high energy levels.if Piedmon is here, he will show up."  
  
"So I guess we have to wait." TK voiced.  
  
"Not necessarily. Just because I can't find out where Piedmon is doesn't mean we can't find out who his DigiDestined is. The program still picks up information on him whether he is in the Digiworld or not, it just can't pinpoint him and it's not as reliable."  
  
"Yeah, just like Joe." Gomamon teased.  
  
"As I was saying, we can use it to find out where his DigiDestined, if he has one," Izzy explained. "Because the two are connected, the program would have also have known where his DigiDestined is. The only problem is, we don't know how accurate it will be."  
  
"So how come this program can keep track of humans in the our world but not their Digimon?" Tai asked.  
  
"Well, the program isn't keeping track of them; it's keeping track of the Digimon. Subconsciously the Digimon keeps track of their DigiDestined because they are connected; the program, however, just takes all the information, subconscious or not...Found it! Okay, the connected human was last at...Odaiba Middle School." Izzy said in shock.  
  
"Great, the school is closed today, they couldn't be there." Davis said.  
  
"Wait, of course they could, there is big tournament thing going on inside the school today! That's why we had the day off," Kari recalled.  
  
"What? I don't remember that." Davis said.  
  
"Of course you wouldn't, there's only been posters up everywhere and announcements all week!" Yolei said sarcastically. "Remember, a group of kids in our school are competing in a big competition with other schools in a whole bunch of events. You tried out for the team for goodness sakes."  
  
"Umm, guys.Remember how I told you that we could find Piedmon by tracking high energy fields?" Izzy said nervously. "Well, there is a BIG one heading for the school!"  
  
"Guys, let's move!" Tai shouted.  
  
~  
  
A young man walked regally through the streets. He was tall, wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, top buttons open, and a pair of black pants. His long, curly, blond and orange hair hung lazily over his shoulders, while his pale skin and ruby eyes seemed to shine in the sun. His mischievous smile grew as he looked down at the shiny gold object in his hand.  
  
"I'm getting closer." he confirmed, looking back up towards the school a short walk away. "So that's where you're hiding." he whispered.  
  
~  
  
Tai burst though the doors of his old school, followed by TK, Ken, Davis, Kari, Yolei, and Matt. The others were still at Tai's house keeping track of the two targets.  
  
"That.was.the.fastest.I've.ever tried to.get.to.school..." Davis gasped, collapsing against a wall. All of them were huffing and puffing. Yolei reached into her pocket and pulled out her D-Terminal.  
  
"Okay Izzy, where do we go?" she asked as she typed in the message. The response came quickly. She looked at it for a second, then sweatdropped.  
  
"He lost the connection." she announced.  
  
"Man, I told Mom we need a better Internet connection!" Tai said in frustration. Noticing all the people, he added, "Wow, this place is packed."  
  
"Okay, then we'll have to look around ourselves," Matt said. "Tai, Kari, and Yolei can make their way to the gym and the rest of us can search through the halls."  
  
Tai nodded. "Good idea; splitting up will make this go faster. Keep an eye open for anything; remember, if Piedmon's here, he could be anywhere or anyone.So stay together!"  
  
"Hey, wait for us!" a voice called. The group easily recognized the little orange dinosaur followed by the rest of the groups' partners.  
  
"Hey, you were supposed to stay home," TK said as Patamon flew into his arms.  
  
"You really don't think you're going to take on Piedmon by yourselves, do you?" he asked, smiling.  
  
"Okay, fine," Tai said. "But remember, you're stuffed animals."  
  
"Right!" they said together.  
  
~  
  
Tai, Kari and Yolei walked carefully down the hall towards the gym, watching the people around them. As they entered the gym their eyes grew wide. It was stuffed with people.  
  
"And now the match you've been waiting for." A loud voice said, as the crowed cheered. "Odaiba Middle school vs. Timberland Middle School in the obstacle course!"  
  
"Hey, let's try and get closer so we can see better," Tai suggested as they pushed though.  
  
"This is a long course. They start out in a race on foot, then into the pool, and from that they go on to this obstacle course set up through these doors," the announcer said, pointing to the open doors leading outside the gym to the field. Set up there was a large a display that circled the field, then 100 meters to the finish line. All along the course people stood by the sides, watching and waiting.  
  
"Cool!" Tai remarked, looking at the huge setup. "Hey, look Kari: some of those kids are in your class." They looked on at the two competitors, stepping up to the course. One was a boy; he was tall with blond hair and brown eyes. He smiled evilly at his female competitor.  
  
"So are you going to lose again this year?" he questioned, smirking. "Odaiba Middle School is full of losers."  
  
"Takes one to know one, Zack!" she yelled back. He laughed again at the small, thin girl beside him. "You know, you're cute when you're angry, but I bet you'd be cuter with blond hair instead of brown," he teased. "I have an idea.How about this: you cut the race and get a makeover, and I'll think about giving you a date with me," he said proudly. His brown eyes twinkled with the look that he had already won. She just flashed him a nasty glare from her green eyes.  
  
"Nah.Never mind. I don't go out with losers, and you're going to lose.just like you did last year and just like you will next year," he said confidently.  
  
"You only won because you cheated!" she accused. He smiled mischievously.  
  
"Cheating? I call it strategy, but even that couldn't help you, girly." he mocked as he prepared his starting position.  
  
"Tai." Yolei said, looking at the boy.  
  
"I know, let's keep an eye on him. C'mon, we have to follow him no matter what," he replied. Kari nodded as they moved down the course ahead of the two racers.  
  
~  
  
The tall man stood in the gym, pointing the gold device at the two racers. It looks like I've found you, he thought, looking at Zack and smiling. "What a delightfully nasty young boy." Suddenly he heard a bang.  
  
"And they're off!" a voice shouted. He watched in amusement as the two children began to run down the course, still very close together. He quickly followed them, just like the rest of the crowd.  
  
~  
  
The two began to reach the end of the first part of the course, and Zack was beginning to break away from the girl; however, she wasn't giving up easily. He dove down into the pool and began to swim like mad towards the other side. She followed closely behind him. He pulled himself out of the pool and ran towards the open doors and the main part of the obstacle course; as he was doing so, he smiled at two other boys hiding in the crowd. As the girl followed him only a few meters behind something caught her foot, tripping her. The wind was quickly knocked out of her. She looked up to see the one of the boys drop what looked like a very thin string.  
  
"Hey, can't you at least run properly?!" Zack shouted, looking back at her and smiling like a fox. The girl glared and pulled herself up off the ground, running for all she was worth.  
  
"Man, what a nasty kid." Kari said. "That guy would definitely make a good DigiDestined for that psycho!"  
  
"Are you referring to me?" the regal voice said from behind her. She spun around, looking though the crowd of people. Nothing. Oh no.she thought. He's here and he's seen me.where's Tai? She was now lost in the crowd.  
  
"Kari!" the cat in her arms said. "I know I should be quiet, but I hear it too. We've got to get to that kid before he does. C'mon!" Kari nodded, as she ran through the crowd after the racers.  
  
~  
  
"Well, this is getting interesting," the tall man whispered, then his eyes were diverted back to the race. The device beeped wildly in the direction of the racers. The girl had caught up. What?! he thought in anger. "How dare she."  
  
~  
  
"Why don't you give up?!" Zack shouted as he grabbed the rope in front of him, about to jump to the other side of a large tower. The girl said nothing, grabbing her rope and jumping across the gap.putting her ahead of him.  
  
"What?!" he yelled as he followed her through the last bits of the obstacle course. Finally, they hit the last part of the course: a 100-meter run to the finish line. The crowed was going wild, as the two kids were almost inseparable. Zack could see the finish line becoming closer and closer. He smiled as he started to lead.  
  
"Nice beating you again..." he huffed as he took the lead. She glared at him, and without warning sprinted out in front of the over-confident boy. He was in utter shook as the girl pulled in front of him, and with one last burst of energy crossed the line, winning. The crowd cheered. The girl dropped to her knees, her teammates crowded around her, cheering happily. The boy glared at her, then walked back towards the gym. She smiled and walked over to him, holding out her hand.  
  
"Good race," she said, smiling. The boy stopped at the doors, then turned and glared; after a second, he spit at her.  
  
"Fuck you!" he yelled in anger. Kari, who had now made her way out of the crowd, was trying to get to Zack. She suddenly felt a cool hand on her shoulder push her to the ground.  
  
"I think you should stay out of this." The man glared. Even though he appeared human, she recognized his voice. He held his hand out and suddenly there was a large explosion. People ran everywhere screaming. He laughed with joy at the frantic humans. Then looked ahead to see the two racers picking themselves off the ground. He walked forward and looked down at the girl.  
  
"Little brat." he said, kicking her violently in the side-so hard she was flung over next to Kari. Kari tried to help her, but her eyes were drawn to the evil man standing over the boy. With one hand he picked the child off the ground.  
  
"Well hello, little one," he said, smiling.  
  
"Who.who the hell are you?" he demanded in fear and anger. The man smiled.  
  
"I am Lord Piedmon, and you, my child, have the honor of being my DigiDestined," he said, still smiling.  
  
"Digi-what?" he asked in fear.  
  
"Piedmon, you freak, you won't get away with this!" Gatomon yelled. Piedmon's smile grew as he looked over at the two girls and Digimon.  
  
"Oh, how cute." he said sarcastically. He raised his hand, and Gatomon went flying across the field into the wall of the gym's side.  
  
"And you." He glared at the young girls. "You will pay for beating my DigiDestined." He raised his hand again; the girl was thrown into the gym and dropped into the pool. He then tightened his hand. Kari could see through the open doors of the gym the girl struggling to get above the water. It took her a minute to realize Piedmon was holding her under the water.  
  
"Let her go!" she cried. Suddenly, Piedmon was kicked in the stomach by the boy. In his human body he lost his balance, dropped him, and lost control of his spell. Kari sighed with relief as she saw the girl pull herself out of the water.  
  
"My dear boy, how dare you kick your own Digimon.your own partner." he growled, trying not to lose his temper.  
  
"What the hell are you, and what makes us partners?" he yelled. Piedmon smiled and held out the golden Digivice, pointing it at Zack. But to his surprise, it did nothing. No beeping, no glowing.it didn't react to the boy.  
  
"What?" he questioned. Kari watched carefully. "But.through the whole race.it was beeping like mad.whenever I pointed it at." he said. It only took Kari a second to realize Piedmon's mistake. She jumped up and ran into the gym, grabbing the frightened girl on the floor and pulling her up.  
  
Piedmon just watched in disbelief. He lifted his hand to the two girls. The device started to beep like mad. The look of disbelief and shock on his face seemed permanent. His wide eyes and open mouth was the only reaction he could give, as Kari pulled the girl into another room, slamming the door.  
  
The slamming door instantly woke him up' he ran into the gym after them, leaving Zack outside. He ran up to the door and opened it without reading the large sign. His look of surprise grew as the screaming girls ran though the locker room, trying to cover themselves. One of them slapped him hard across the cheek, then slammed the door in his face. Piedmon glared, and began to take the shape of his true form. He then burst thought the door and ran through the locker room, ignoring the screaming girls that were trying to beat him. As he reached the end he saw another door; he burst though it as well and ran into the hall.  
  
"Pervert!" a girl yelled, then slammed the door shut. In front of the large, shocked, and completely embarrassed clown stood TK, Matt, Davis and Ken. Their faces were blank. The group just stared at Piedmon in shock. He stared back. Finally Matt broke the silence.  
  
"I know you're evil and all, but don't you think sneaking into the girls locker room is pushing it?" Matt said with a blank expression.  
  
"Piedmon, I think you have too much free time on your hands.and there is a bra on your head." TK informed him. Piedmon growled in anger, then shot a blast, throwing them across the hall. As they got up, Piedmon disappeared.  
  
~  
  
It was now 8 o'clock at night. Piedmon sat quietly on top of a building, looking at the Digivice in his hand. It was beeping as he pointed it at the building in front of him.  
  
"My DigiDestined is.a girl?" 


	8. The Final child

Piedmon watched the window carefully. He could make out the figure of the young girl moving about in the room. It was dark now, and he would wait till the lights in the apartment window went out before he entered the room. He wanted to make sure that he didn't make any mistakes this time.  
  
~  
  
Alexandra sat down on the bed. She was so tired, but couldn't sleep. She was sore all over. He legs and muscles hurt from the race, but she was used to those feelings. He side ached more then anything; she could barely breathe without feeling the pain. She carefully removed her shirt to change into her bedclothes. She inspected the large bruise covering the right side of her stomach and going all the way up to her ribs. The bruise was dark purple, but she pretended it was fine, although she knew she should see a doctor and her parents didn't even know she was hurt.  
  
Like they would even care.she thought.  
  
Ever since she could remember, she had lived with her adopted parents. They had been unable to have children and her parents had died in a car crash when she was two. So it was that, with no other family, her father's business partner and wife adopted her. When Alex had been nine, her adopted mother became pregnant by what the doctors called a miracle. After her so- called brother was born, they slowly forgot about her. As time moved on, she became just a person who lived with them. All they seemed to care about was Mike.  
  
She could hear her family saying goodnight in the next room. The three of then would sit in toddler Mike's room; her father would read a story to him while her mother tucked him into bed. She listened carefully, hearing the parents walk into their room, calling out good night to their son again, then closing their door.  
  
"Goodnight." she whispered in disgust.  
  
She remembered the day she had realized she had been forgotten. When she was in grade school, things were so fun; she was starting to make friends and become good at sports, among other things. One day when she was ten, she had just finished her last race of the year, winning a silver medal. She had been so proud; it had looked so good hanging around her neck. She had insisted on waiting for her adopted parents to come and get her like they always did, instead of getting a ride with one of her friends. She waited and waited. Even when it started to rain violently she waited; as the storm got worse, she finally decided to walk home. She was soaked and freezing in the cold rain, and after the long walk, when she finally had arrived home, she was alone. Her parents and brother had all gone to their grandmother's house for the weekend without telling her. She had sat down in her the corner of her room, holding herself, her cat Sam in her arms. She remembered crying as the flashes of lightning flickered in the window and cast scary shapes on the walls. The power went out and she had dashed under her bed in fear, holding her pet tightly. She stayed there, not coming out for two days. When the group had finally returned, she ran out into the hall. She had expected a hug, an apology, something that would make everything all right again. Nothing. They just walked past her like she wasn't even there.  
  
Everything felt so different then. For the first few months after, she had done everything she could think of to get them to notice her. She tried dropping her grades; after that she tried raising them. She tried to win in everything she did, resulting in a large collection of meaningless awards and medals, which she later shoved in a box and hid under her bed, not wanting to look at them. She tried to quit sports and everything else to spend more time at home; she tried getting sick, even hurting herself. Nothing seemed to matter.  
  
She would have lost it completely if it wasn't for her sports. In anger and frustration, she began to run in track, take kickboxing, karate, fencing, skating, and gymnastics, resulting in keeping her fit, healthy, and always tired. It was perfect. She had been able to fill every day with something, so by the time she came home it was so late and she was so tired, she could just collapse.  
  
Unfortunately, tonight was different; instead of being able to sleep, she was wide awake. She couldn't really understand what had happened after the race. That man had kicked her, then suddenly she had felt herself flying in the cold pool water and no matter how hard she struggled she felt like a giant hand was holding her down in the water. She had thought she was going to die. Then it stopped, and as she pulled herself out of the water one of her classmates had dragged her through the girls' looker room and out the doors of the school, then into a bush. She had seemed really worried and had told her to stay put, but as soon as the girl left to go back into the school, she had run all the way home. She had sat quietly in her room all night, trying to make sense of things.  
  
She walked across the room and flicked off the light, then crawled into bed. She lied awake, staring at the ceiling, just thinking. She felt little paws walking along the bed. The warm fur tickled her cheeks as her best friend nuzzled in next to her. She had started to doze off when she heard a thump in her room. She jumped awake and looked carefully around the dark room; other then her window being open, everything looked fine.  
  
"I thought I closed that." she murmured, getting up, walking over to the window, and closing it again. As she closed the window, she heard something behind her She spun around. Nothing.  
  
Now she was spooked; she could feel the presence of something in the room with her. She dashed to the light switch and flicked it on. To her surprise, nothing happened. She fiddled with the switch frantically. Nothing happened, but she could hear something moving. A shadow of a man caught her eye. She slowly walked back towards her bed, letting her fingers drift over her trench coat hanging on her desk chair. Without warning, she quickly grabbed the coat and burst out of the room; she ran as hard as she could out of the apartment and down the stairs, then out of the building and onto the street. She panted with fear.  
  
I know someone was there.I could feel them.she thought, but now realized that she was in her pajamas, standing in the middle of the dark, empty streets, and consequently felt worse. Maybe I should go back.she considered, looking up to her room window. The thought quickly left her mind as she saw the light in her room turn on and a tall, dark figure making its way to the window. She stared in disbelief as the window opened; she couldn't believe her eyes.  
  
Run! Damn it, just get out of here! she urged herself, turning and running down the street.  
  
She had to stop after only two blocks; her chest ached from the bruise on her side. She hobbled over to a streetlight, leaning up against it and sitting down. Okay.I think I'm overreacting.she thought, as the fear left her and she tried to make logic out of what had just happened. It was probably just Mom or Dad.they heard me run out of the room and went to see what happened. The noises were just Sam.there was no one in my room.she told herself, wrapping her coat around her. She decided she would catch her breath and then head back.  
  
"Meow." Alex turned around; she recognized the thin black cat with white paws.  
  
"Sam?" she said, walking over and picking him up. "How did you get here? You're not supposed to be outside at this time of night." But as she looked closer at him, she noticed his yellow eyes were now ruby red. "Sam?" she whispered, realizing this wasn't her cat. She screamed in terror as the cat started to grow. She dropped the creature in shock and fell to the ground. When she looked up, in the place of the cat stood a huge, strange man that reminded her of a clown. She was speechless as she looked into his eyes.  
  
As Piedmon looked down at her, his smile was replaced by an irritated frown. With a quick motion, he snatched her high into the air with one hand. He held her as if she weighed nothing and brought her close so they were face-to-face. She was still in terror as he looked her over. He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a strange object that started glowing madly as he pointed it at her. He sighed in disgust, the dropped her abruptly. It was almost eight feet to the ground, and she landed with a yelp of pain.  
  
"So, I am to be saddled with you." he said, looking her over again like she was an insect unworthy of breathing the same air as he.  
  
Piedmon was repulsed. Having a human partner was bad enough. The fact he need the help of a lower life form was disgraceful. The idea he was solely connected to one was worse, but why did that creature have to be a scrawny little girl.not just scrawny, but nice and sweet. It made him want to throw up. He had watched her for the remainder of the day, and she disgusted him. Why couldn't he have a human with a personality as evil and manipulative as he? She seemed the exact opposite of him; she was quiet, kind, and weak.  
  
Alex tried to crawl away; she could feel her chest bleeding. Piedmon snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed her sneaking away from him. He watched her holding her chest as a red stain leaked through.  
  
"Stand up!" he snapped. In fear she obeyed, pulling herself off the ground. "Good, now come with me." he ordered, turning away from her.  
  
"What?" Alex questioned.  
  
"Don't talk back!" he barked. A twisted expression of confusion and anger appeared on her face.  
  
"Who are you, and what makes you think I'm going anywhere with you.you.you big bully?!"  
  
The second she said it, she wished she hadn't. He turned around, towering over her, his eyes full of power, strength, and anger.  
  
"I thought I just told you not to talk back." he hissed. She was filled with fear, but forced herself to speak.  
  
"Answer me.I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who you are!" she stammered, trying to sound brave. He eyed her over again, thinking.  
  
"Very well.." he said emotionlessly. "I am Piedmon, the most powerful Digimon in existence, and you, for some reason unknown to me, are my partner." His voice was bitter and cold. "Now come with me, I have work to do." he commanded, turning again.  
  
"Partner." she said thoughtfully. "Wait, what makes you think I'm coming with you?" she demanded, her voice a little stronger. He just turned once more, an annoyed look on his face.  
  
"Well, it's obvious no one want you here.your parents don't love you, you have no purpose here, you have no friends, and besides, you have no choice." he stated coldly. He smiled inside as he saw tears forming in her eyes. He loved his ability to manipulate and use people; she was just putty in his hands, just a device he could use to regain his rule.then he could lock her away in some tower until needed, or even get rid of her completely. He chucked as he imagined the pain and betrayal that would be in her eyes. Yes, she is just a tool; a stepping stone that I shall squeeze until I have taken all I need. I will have to deal with her until then.he thought.  
  
"Come.NOW!" he ordered in a threatening voice.  
  
She hung her head in pain and fear and followed quietly, not making a sound. He said no one cares about me, but how does he know? Who is this guy? I'm so confused.and why am I going with him? Is he telling me the truth; it sure doesn't seem like he cares about me. He doesn't even know me, and I have no idea what he is. One thing is for sure.he's not human.she thought as she looked up at him. Alexandra couldn't understand why she was going with him; she was full of mixed emotions now, and felt very vulnerable. She felt as if something was pulling her, making her follow him, but she couldn't be sure.  
  
The evil Digimon sighed as he saw the place he was looking for. Alex looked ahead to see the school in front of her. He eyes watched in amazement as Piedmon out stretched his arms, and as if by magic opened the looked doors.  
  
"Hurry up," he ordered briskly, as he made his way into the school. She stood there, stunned for a minute, before following him.  
  
Humans are so easily amused.he thought. Such simple creatures; I don't think I'll ever understand why our kind needs them, or why they make us so strong. It's pathetic, really.  
  
"In here," he said, leading to the computer lab. Alex walked in and looked around.  
  
"So this is it? This is why you wanted me to come with you." she wondered. He glared at her, and then in one swoop he scooped her up, holding her in his arms. Alex was completely surprised. He was warm and smelled good. Being in his arms was comfortable, despite how cold and nasty he seemed; it felt right for her to be close to him. She wanted to kick herself for thinking such thoughts, but she couldn't help it. Luckily, Piedmon was too busy opening the gate to the Digital World to notice how red she was.  
  
Suddenly, the room began to fill with light, and Alex was snapped away from her thoughts. She could feel them falling and she grabbed onto him tightly in fear. Piedmon just rolled his eyes. Then in a flash it was over. Alex slowly opened her eyes. As she looked around, she noticed that the dark computer lab had been replaced by a large city.  
  
"What.?" she whispered. Without warning, Piedmon dropped her on the ground. He gave her a nasty look as he walked gracefully towards the large building across from them. She was even more surprised as a tall girl ran out of the building. She stopped abruptly in front of him, putting her hands on her hips, and gave him an angry look.  
  
"What took you so long, clowny? We were going to start to take over the world without you!" Piedmon just grunted.  
  
"I'm not in the mood, you little brat; are the others here?" he snapped, walking past her. Alex pulled herself off the ground. It was about at this point she noticed that her bare feet and pajamas had been replaced by tight leather pants, black boots, and a strange blue top. Beside her was a yellow backpack.  
  
"What the.Okay, what's going on?" she wondered, looking herself over. The tall girl smiled.  
  
"Hey Piedmon, is this your digi-kid?" Teena questioned, smirking. Piedmon just shuddered.  
  
"I suppose so." he sighed.  
  
"Wow," she said, coming and looking her over. "So that makes you Piedmon's bitch? I thought you'd be some weird circus reject, but you look pretty normal to me. What happened, Piedmon, did they run out of creepy clowns wannabes? No, I forgot, you like little girls, don't you?" Piedmon was about to turn around and send Teena flying across the ground when he heard another voice.  
  
"Welcome back," Devimon said, giving him a look that he knew just what he had been thinking and if he tried it, he'd have to deal with him. Piedmon just chuckled.  
  
"Like you'd stand a chance."  
  
Alex looked up to see more people coming out of the building; more children like her, and each one had a strange creature with them.  
  
"Hey clown boy, how's it going?" Etemon asked happily. Piedmon looked a little confusedly at Etemon.  
  
"Oh yeah, that.Please don't ask me how that happened..." Devimon started. "We were just sitting there preparing when he just evolved.I've had to keep Teena from killing him all day long. He just doesn't shut up."  
  
"Hey, what do you mean by that? At least Erika appreciates good music when she hears it!" he yelled. Erika just sweatdropped and nodded, not wanting to hurt his feelings. "See!" he boasted.  
  
"You don't get it do you." Devimon said annoyed.  
  
"Hey, wow; you're even uglier in real life," Erika said, noticing Piedmon. He glared at her, and she took a step back, remembering all his earlier comments.  
  
"Hey, don't worry, Erika; Piedmon has his own girl now-he can rape her instead." Teena said evilly. Piedmon frowned.  
  
"I have better taste then that," he said, looking at Alex icily. "Alright, come with me. It's time we prepare." he added, walking into the building. The others followed. Alex just stood there, feeling confused and left out.  
  
"Hey, c'mon Pied-girl, you heard what the freak said. Let's go!" Teena shouted. Alex snapped to attention and followed. 


	9. The talk

Kari's heart was beating out of her chest as she ran home. She had finally tracked down the girl at the race and had gone home only to find that the girl had disappeared in the middle of the night. Her parents didn't seem too worried, but they had said that she had been in her room and now she wasn't. Kari had a feeling where she was. I've got to get home and tell the others, she thought.  
  
~  
  
Alex looked around at the group of children and what she now knew as Digimon. They sat around a large table, Piedmon sitting at the head. She watched him out of the corner of her eye; he looked like a king, sipping his wine and looking down on his followers. Next to her was a young girl with long white hair, who wore sunglasses despite the fact it was night. She was talking with the only boy there, Blue. Across the table, Demona and Teena were discussing horror movies. They stopped momentarily to laugh at Puppetmon and Etemon picking a fight. Piedmon seemed annoyed at the display of childishness. Everyone was talking amongst themselves and enjoying the food that had been prepared for them.  
  
Alex jumped as her Digimon yelled to silence them. All grew quiet and waited for him to speak.  
  
"Well, now that we are all here, it is time to discuss the business at hand. In a few minutes I shall hand out your crests. We will then completely retake the Digital World, and cover it in an endless night," he said, smiling. "But first, the battle plan."  
  
"It's about time," Teena muttered; Piedmon ignored her and continued.  
  
"First we shall take this world, transform it once again. We will make the Digimon who oppose us our slaves. Devimon and Devidramon shall be in charge of that, since they have created the most delightful inventions: the Black Gears and Dark Rings. I want you to cover the land with Control Spires. I want them everywhere, understood? Etemon, I wish for you to go with them; however, while they are doing their job, you will use the Digimon slaves to help set up the Dark Network. With this done, all the Digimon who pose a threat will be our slaves, the land will be filled with towers, and this will prevent the DigiDestined, once they arrive, from evolving right away. This gives us an advantage-it will throw them off. With Etemon's Dark Network in place, we can know their moves at all times, giving us yet another advantage."  
  
"That's great, but what do the rest of us do?" Talia asked.  
  
"That's what I'm getting to next. Other than the DigiDestined, there are four more enemies we will have to deal with: the four guardians of the Digital World. We will take them out one by one."  
  
"That's great, but aren't those guys really strong?" Blue asked. He, like most of the others, had heard Machinedramon's story of how they first took over the Digiworld.  
  
"They are; that's why I will need half of you to create a diversion. In doing so, I will be able to get close enough to begin to drain there energy when the second group attacks. The DigiGods shall not be killed, just weakened so much that they can't even de-digivolve. I have plans for them," Piedmon said, dreaming about the power he would draw from them.  
  
"That's great, Clown Boy, take all the power you want, but what about us and the DigiDestined?" Demona asked. Piedmon frowned; it seemed that Teena's attitude towards him had spread throughout the group. He tried to remind himself it didn't matter; as long as they obeyed, their comments didn't matter. After all, he was the most powerful Digimon in the world, what could a few nasty words do to him, right?  
  
"After we have aired our victory, it will be time to let our little friends come and play," he said with an evil smirk. "Again the fights shall be one on one. I will tell you which DigiDestined you shall fight." He heard the group rise up in anger.  
  
"I do this because I know their strength and yours. I want to make sure you are fighting someone you can beat...You will all have your chance for revenge, I promise. All we have to do is beat them down enough so that we can easily capture them. Anyways, I will explain more about this later; I am sure that runt Gennai is helping them find a way in here as we speak, and the four DigiGods will be preparing for an attack. They will know something is wrong by now, so it is time to act!" he yelled dramatically.  
  
In a flash a small, glowing object appeared in front of each child. One by one, the kids picked them up and examined them with curiosity.  
  
"Hey Piedmon.these crests...they're black! There's nothing there!" Ericka said in frustration.  
  
"Yeah.Devidramon told me our crests would have the mark of our most powerful trait on them." Jenny added. Piedmon rubbed his head as once again the room became loud with angry children.  
  
"I am aware of the crests...however, I do not understand why they still remain black. They will most likely be activated when you portray your most powerful trait. Anyways, you needn't worry about that, your Digimon will evolve without them. Speaking of which, let's head outside; it is time to begin the first part of the plan." Piedmon watched happily as his DigiDestined followed his orders. His smiled disappeared as he looked at the small girl who glanced back at him. How annoying, he thought as he followed.  
  
~  
  
Piedmon led them about a mile's walk to an old ruin. The children were told to stand in a circle, their Digimon behind them.  
  
"This is the very middle of the Digital World, and the place where the first Digimon were born."  
  
"Oh really? And how do you know that?" Teena questioned, thinking that Piedmon was full of it. He glared at her.  
  
"Because I was one of them.." The venom in his voice was so thick that for the first time, Teena felt a shiver go down her spine as he glared at her.  
  
"We will take the world from here. Hold up your Digivices.and concentrate.."  
  
~  
  
"TAI!" Kari cried out as she burst through the door. As she ran in, she noticed that almost all of her friends were there, gathered around the computer.  
  
"Something's happening..." Sora said softly. Kari walked over and peered into the computer. On the screen was a map of the Digital World. Kari thought she would fall over and die: Right before their eyes, the land was reshaping itself, to something Kari remembered all too well.  
  
"Spiral Mountain.." Tai whispered.  
  
"Damn it! We've got to do something!" Matt said, getting angry. "But they've sealed up all the gates; we can't get in."  
  
"But we have to try!" Izzy asserted, pounding frantically on the keyboard.  
  
~  
  
Hours passed and it was now ten at night. In the last few hours the children were horrified to see the familiar Control Spire signs appear everywhere in the new world. The darkness seemed to grow, covering everything, and at 10:15 the map was completely blackened out. Now they couldn't even monitor anything happening within the Digital World. They were completely shut out; nothing they tried worked. The group sat on the floor feeling defeated, and waited and prayed for Gennai to wake. They were all hoping he might be able to do something to help them.  
  
~  
  
Little did they know they weren't the only ones worried. The Dark DigiDestined sat quietly together in what would be the main living room in Piedmon's castle, their Digimon watching over them. One of the first things Piedmon had done was create an enormous castle, at the top of what they now called Dark Mountain. It was appropriately named, because if you looked out the window you could see Control Spires everywhere, and the sky was pitch black. The fact that the whole world was covered in a thick fog didn't help. The once bight and beautiful world the children had come to now had the feeling of a horror movie. It was cold, and had the feeling that something horrible would happen at any minute. Even the toughest of them felt uncomfortable in their new surroundings. After today they all were a little on edge.  
  
All of the children were worried, because today they saw what their Digimon were truly capable of. It sent chills down their spines just thinking about it. Jenny and Erika couldn't stop thinking about the brutal ways Devimon and Devidramon had hunted down and captured the free Digimon. How they played with them, hurt them and killed some of them like it was a game. Erika couldn't stand the thought of her own Digimon, Etemon, polluting the land with that mess of wires. It was like an infection, bleeding throughout the whole Digital World, leaving places barren and gray. Even Teena was afraid. For the first time she wished to be nowhere near Devimon, and had been avoiding him. But being the stubborn person she was, she pretended that nothing was wrong, and that the things she watched him do didn't bother her.  
  
The other group was even more disturbed. Jane was shaken by her Digimon. The way he fought, and laughed at the DigiGods' pain. MetalSeadramon and Machinedramon were relentless in their attack, beating each god down till they looked like trembling children, begging and pleading for mercy. Both the children were trying to not show how shaken they were. Demona didn't seem to be bothered by anything that had happened; however, she hid a deep fear that BlackGatomon would become as ruthless and bloodthirsty as the others.  
  
Alex hadn't really talked to her Digimon all day. Not because of what happened-She wasn't even there. He had kept her as far away from him as possible. Unlike the others, she had spent the day doing slave work, preparing the castle for their return. He seemed different when he came back; his body had grown to almost twenty feet, his muscles were much larger, and his eyes glowed insanely with power. Blue had told her how Piedmon had drained each DigiGod of most of their power. She told herself that what he did didn't bother her and tried to look happy to see him, even after she had nearly thrown up at the sight of the four crippled Digimon. However, Piedmon didn't seem pleased to see her, and immediately sent her away.  
  
Unlike the others who were concerned for their safety, and wondered if what they were doing was right, Alex was pondering more selfish thoughts. She wondered if maybe she had done something wrong. She had barely spoken to her Digimon, and whenever he spoke to her, it was ether an insult or an order. What was making things worse.every time she looked at him, she felt more and more drawn to him, and a greater longing to please him. She tried not to let him catch her looking at him, while she tried to figure things out.  
  
"I'm sure you're all tired, so I believe that it is time for us to rest. You will all need your strength; tonight we shall summon our enemies to the Digital World, and the battle will begin," Piedmon said, feeling his own body grow tired.  
  
"Shall we?" Devimon whispered in his partner's ear as he wrapped his long arms around her. Teena shivered, unaware her partner was right behind her. She nodded, not really sure of what to say, as the evil Digimon took her hand and lead her to his chambers.  
  
As the group left the room, Piedmon noticed he wasn't alone. He glared down at the small girl.  
  
"And what do you thing you're doing?" he asked. Alex wasn't exactly sure what to say; was she not supposed to stay with her Digimon partner like the others? Everyone else would be sharing a room with there Digimon; where was she to go? Piedmon realized she was a little confused.  
  
"So I guess you want to stay with me, then?" he asked, looking away from her as he thought the question over. She had begun to realize she didn't really have any choice in what happened. Piedmon would decide whether she stayed with him or not.  
  
"Hah.Very well, I suppose you may stay with me tonight." he said, getting up and motioning for her to follow him to his room.  
  
~  
  
Blue sat quietly on the window ledge of his partner's room. There was a bed, a dresser, computers, and other room-like things. But he didn't feel much like sleeping. After earlier today, he was seriously worried about his relationship with Machinedramon. Was he just a tool? Would he even matter when their mission was done? Everything seemed so great when they first met. The little Hagurumon and he were becoming the best of friends, and suddenly it seemed like everything changed. He watched his Digimon sleeping. He had to admit it was strange that a machine Digimon could sleep.  
  
"Hello?" A voice whispered. Blue snapped to attention. He tried to make out the figure in the dark.  
  
"It's just me." Jane whispered. "I can't sleep.and I just need someone to talk to."  
  
"I don't think anyone will be sleeping tonight." Blue said softly. "I can't get the image of what our Digimon did today; it was horrible." he expressed, looking out the window.  
  
"I'm afraid to stay with Puppetmon.." Jane admitted. "When we first met, it was like we had a connection, so strong we didn't even have to talk; we just understood. Now I feel like I'm losing him. I mean, I know we haven't known our Digimon for very long, but when I first meet Mushroomon I felt like we had never been separated.and now."  
  
"I know how you feel," Blue agreed quietly.  
  
"Hey, you guys awake in here?"  
  
Jane and Blue looked to see Jenny and Erika coming in the room.  
  
"We heard voices.." Jenny whispered, as the walked over to join Blue and Jane. Blue hopped down from the window ledge.  
  
"C'mon, let's go to the main room. I don't want to wake him up," Blue informed them as they crept out of the room.  
  
As they entered the large living room, they saw Talia and Demona wrapped in blankets, sitting next to the large fireplace. The group walked in quietly and joined them. They sat silently for a few minutes before they heard something that made them turn around.  
  
"What?" Teena asked.  
  
"Geez, didn't expect you to have problems sleeping.after all, you and Devimon looked quit snug tonight." Demona said.  
  
"Bite your tongue!" Teena snapped. "You didn't look too worried about what happened either." she accused angrily. Demona smiled.  
  
"You too, huh? I guess we're just good at hiding those things." Demona said gently, gazing into the fire. Teena's angry face changed to surprise, then became blank.  
  
"Hey, don't put me in the same group as you guys...things are fine, I just needed some air." she half-muttered, trying to convince herself that was all it was.  
  
"Well then, since you're up, why don't you join us.?" Blue offered, smiling. Teena just mumbled something and walked over, sitting down quietly.  
  
"Wow, everyone's up." Alex noted, stealing into the room. Her blank expression and noiseless movements matched the feeling in the air.  
  
"What's the matter, did clown boy get to friendly.?" Teena questioned, staring into the fire; her voice was dull and thoughtful.  
  
"No...I can't sleep," she whispered, walking over. "And he wanted me to get him something to eat.why?"  
  
"Never mind..." Teena said softly.  
  
"Come join us..." Jenny suggested. "You can serve all high and mighty later."  
  
"He asked you to make him something to eat? Don't we have servants for that?" Talia wondered; Alex didn't say anything. They were all quiet for a while, huddling close together in front of the fire.  
  
"So I guess.everyone's upset about today?" Demona queried slowly, breaking the silence.  
  
"What makes you say that?" Teena asked. Demona just glared.  
  
"Well then, why are you here? If you aren't mad at Devimon?"  
  
"What makes you think I'm mad at Devimon?! He didn't do anything!" Teena snarled, jumping up in anger.  
  
"She didn't say he did anything." Talia reminded her suspiciously. Teena bit her tongue.  
  
"Never mind!" the girl snapped, sitting back down.  
  
"You know, I think we can say we're all upset about what happened today, and I think we're all a little afraid. We have to stick together if we want to get through this." Talia commented. The others nodded in agreement.  
  
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think we should be careful, and we've got to trust each other," Jenny stated matter-of-factly, looking around at everyone.  
  
"I agree!" Talia affirmed. "Let's play a little game, okay? We'll go around in a circle, and I want everyone to tell us about themselves and what they felt today, and how they feel about their Digimon. I want the truth! I think that that's the best way we can get to know each other and trust each other."  
  
"Great.you start!" Teena said sarcastically; Talia simply glared in return.  
  
"Fine." She said. "Well.let's see...I'm a California girl, and I just moved to Japan a few weeks ago. So far I've made no friends here whatsoever. Everyone I meet here seems to think I'm stupid because I am blond, and have a tan." she added dryly.  
  
"Cry me a river, what about today?" Teena interjected, pretending she wasn't interested.  
  
"Well, when I first came here, things were strange and all but they seemed right. Then today..." Talia grew quiet as she tried not to get emotional. "I couldn't watch.." she trailed off softly. Blue could see Talia was now deep in thought, and for the sake of keeping this chance to bond alive, he continued the conversation.  
  
"Well, I'm from Japan. However I don't have a lot of friends; I spend most of my time alone, hiking and stuff. I've just always wanted an adventure, and to get away," he said. "And now I'm here with seven beautiful women. It all started out great.but now...Well, I guess I feel like Talia."  
  
"I don't remember having any real friends. And I was always getting picked on; I even got in a few fights, thankfully I had some help with the last one," Erika said, smiling at Demona.  
  
"Hey, those Barbie girls had it coming." was the response.  
  
"I wasn't really looking for a way out of my world, but I got it and I was happy.now I'm starting to think I'd be better off at home." Jane admitted.  
  
"I was looking for a way here, so I guess I brought this upon myself," Jenny said thoughtfully. "Way back a few years ago there was a Digimon that attacked Odaiba. Myotismon. He captured me and a whole bunch of kids. I really don't know why, but when I ran into him, I felt like we belonged together. Then a few days ago I ran away from home, and to my surprise, I found him. My Digimon was Myotismon, well he's Devidramon now. The point is I was always looking for him all those years, whether I knew it or not. Today, however, I wish I hadn't found him. Those poor little Digimon, those rings are disgusting.and whenever I talk to him about what happened before, he won't tell me anything. I feel like there are things he doesn't want to tell. Worst of all he's becoming somewhat possessive."  
  
"Possessive? Ha! You know nothing." Teena said flatly. Jenny glared at her.  
  
"Well I guess it's your turn." she said smugly.  
  
"Fine." Teena replied. "Okay, let's see.Since we're all spilling our guts and singing our sad tunes, here's mine. I have no friends, my mother and I don't get along, and everyone thinks I'm gothic so they are afraid of me," she said proudly.  
  
"And what about Devimon.?" Jenny asked inquisitively.  
  
"What about Devimon? Okay, I admit it, I was a little disturbed by those Black Gears and what happened to the Digimon he infected with them.and the way he tortured them.and killed some." Teena said, forgetting to act tough and show no feelings. "And then tonight.the way he acted like nothing was wrong, like everything was fine. And in our room he kept looking at me, and wanting to be close to me, and when I asked him about today, it was like it didn't matter. He didn't seem to care that I was upset, he was too busy trying to cuddle." She stopped her sentence, realizing she had said too much. Jenny just smiled.  
  
"Cuddle? That's good enough.what about you, Jane?" she asked. In a way Teena was angry at her for tricking her into spilling her guts, but grateful that she changed the person of focus before Teena had embarrassed herself.  
  
"I think you guys are the first people I have met that I feel close to. I know that probably sounds strange and all, seeing how we've only known each other for a short time. Everyone in my school thinks I weird, just because of how I look."  
  
"Well I don't know what their problem is-I think you cute," Blue flattered, flirting; Jane just blushed.  
  
"Thanks..." she said softly, slightly embarrassed. "What about you, Alex?" she added, trying to change the subject.  
  
"Well."Alex began thoughtfully. "My parents died a long time ago, so I was adopted. Then my adopted parents had a baby boy, and...they forgot about me." She trailed off quietly; like everyone else, she was afraid to tell too much. "I tried everything to get them to notice me.nothing worked, so now I'm here, with Piedmon."  
  
"And what about Piedmon? He sure acts like a jerk around you," Erika said bluntly. Alex looked a little shocked, then her face saddened.  
  
"I don't know.I think I did something wrong," she said contemplatively. "It's strange; all of you seem to say that when you first got here you had a strong bond with your Digimon, but to be honest I don't think Piedmon and I have anything like that. It seems everyone here knows him better then me.I don't think he likes me very much."  
  
"Well don't worry about it; Piedmon's a freak show," Demona reassured, then added, "Well, I guess I'm a reject like the rest of you; you can probably guess why people don't like me. The black and all.anyways, like you Alex, I haven't been here very long; things are still new to me. I wonder if we have any other purpose here, other then to make them strong.what will they do with us when they are done killing and hurting? Will we be next?" The circle of kids cringed at the fact that she had cut right to what was on everyone's minds. What would happen to them?  
  
"I don't want to talk about this anymore.." Teena testified. Demona raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Me neither." Jane agreed slowly. The room became silent again. Suddenly Blue jumped up.  
  
"Well, let's talk about Piedmon! Was he hit repeatedly with a truck or something, man?!" The group burst out laughing. Of course, this made Blue go on.  
  
"This is my Piedmon impression," he proclaimed, and put on as must of a Piedmon accent as he could muster. "Hello boys and girls, my name is Piedmon and I think I'm so smart. I enjoy shoving large sticks up my ass, and swapping make up tips with Marilyn Manson."  
  
"No that's not him, he's more like this," Erika argued playfully, adopting her own interpretation of Piedmon's voice. "Hello Kiddies, I am the great and almighty Piedmon! In my spare time I enjoy spying on little girls, and play with myself, because I have no friends and nobody likes me."  
  
"Come on guys, leave him alone, I like him." Alex urged.  
  
"Except Alex, but because I'm such a stupid jerk I think I'm above her.in fact I'm above everyone, I am so great, and so perfect. And I am the world's best dresser. Just look at me, I am sooooo sexy!" Erika continued, trying not to laugh.  
  
"That's great! Piedmon reminds me of a cross dresser." Jenny teased.  
  
"Oh, I'm not done yet.presenting Teena's worst nightmare!" Erika said dramatically. "Oh Teena, I, Piedmon, am deeply in love with you."  
  
"OH GOD!" Teena screeched, jumping away. The rest of the group started laughing as Erika chased Teena around the room.  
  
"I love the way you insult me, and I love the way you glare at me, come be my clown queen, and we will be ugly clowns together...Hug me!" Erika hollered, flying forward and knocking Teena over. Both girls burst out laughing.  
  
"That is so wrong! Don't ever do that again!" Teena said, laughing so hard her chest hurt.  
  
"Yes...don't EVER do that again." All of them snapped shut. Piedmon glared at them. "Do you think that's funny?" Jenny covered her mouth, trying not to laugh as she shook her head no.  
  
"Play time is over! All of you get back to bed." The group quietly got up and each child made their way to their room. Piedmon reached down and grabbed Alex by the back of here shirt and carried her back to his room.  
  
"I ask you a simple thing, and I find you here mocking me? Do I mean so little to you? I come all the way to the human world to find you, take you away from your unloving parents, bring you here to my castle and away from your miserable life. I keep you safe here while I fight a dangerous battle, I feed you, let you sleep in my bed and what do you do? You disobey me, and make fun of me?" Alex didn't know what to say. He opened the door to his room and threw her on the floor. He grabbed a pillow and sheet off the bed, and threw them down to her.  
  
"You can sleep on the floor if you're going to act like that." Of course Piedmon knew he was going to make her sleep on the floor anyway. Normally he wouldn't have been so angry, but he had walked in just when Blue had started to make fun of him, and he heard Alex's small attempt to defend him.and he didn't like it. As he turned off the lights and crawled into his regal bed, he couldn't help but look at her as she slept and he hated it. Stupid girl.what makes you think I need you to defend me? he thought, now knowing that he would be thinking about that all night. I can't wait until this is over and I can get rid of you. 


	10. The Dark digi world

"Get up!"  
  
Alex shrieked as she was rudely awakened by a throbbing pain in her side. As she opened her eyes, she quickly recognized the man standing over her. She couldn't say anything just moaned softly, as she watched him walk out of the room.  
  
"If you want to eat some time today, you had better hurry up and eat before all the food is gone." Alex jumped up and ran out behind Piedmon. When they got to the main hall she noticed, everyone up, and the plates on the table empty.  
  
"Oh, I guess I should have waked you up an hour ago, when breakfast started…" Piedmon said trying to hide the big smirk on his face, as he saw her crushed look.  
  
"Don't worry Alex, just because clown boy has no manners doesn't mean we don't, saved ya some of everything." Blue said handing her a plate packed with food. Piedmon grunted, as the rest of the group snickered.  
  
"Anyways now on to more important business…." Piedmon begun.  
  
"Yes…" Blue said standing up and specking in a Piedmon like voice. "We need to defeat my arch nemesis Ronald McDonald! It is time he is stopped; his rain over the burger kingdom has gone on long enough! I shell take his place as the worlds favored gay clown and no one will stop me MWHAhahahahahah." Piedmon just glared at him.  
  
"What was that all about?" Alex whispered to Demona.  
  
"Ever since last night Erika and Blue have been in Piedmon impression competitions….and as you can tell he's about to kill them both.  
  
"If your all finished, maybe we can move on to the real issues…or we can all act like little two year olds…"  
  
"Hey that's not fair!" Blue shouted in defense.  
  
"Ya Puppetmon is always acting like two year olds but you never yell at him!" Jenny teased.  
  
"Hey! I consider myself at lest 4…" Puppetmon said proudly. Piedmon wanted to smack his head on the wall; he was too tired for this he had spent the night staring at Alex, not that he'd ever admit he had. He convinced himself she was too loud a sleeper and that's what had done it. His attention was diverted by an entering digimon.  
  
"Ah Devimon…late night?" Piedmon said smiling. He just grunted, and sat next to Teena, as Piedmon continued to argue with Blue and Erika.  
  
"Where did you go last night?" Devimon whispered.  
  
"What? Teena said pretending she didn't know what he was talking about.  
  
"You were gone all night, I went looking everywhere for you….I was worried…" He said leaning in close to her his red eyes twinkling. Teena noticed his large hand had found itself on her thigh.  
  
"Did you sleep much….did I do something wrong…" He asked when she seemed to move away from him.  
  
"Look I don't need you to always be protecting me….I'm fine on my own…"  
  
"Hello love birds….pay attention, or get a room…." Puppetmon yelled, and both Devimon and Teena turned bright red, the whole group was staring at them.  
  
"As I was saying…" Piedmon said looking annoyed. "The digi destined shell be arriving here any minute, time to go meet them….whahahahahahahahah….  
  
  
  
"Ok…just a few more tests, I'm sure we can find out what's going on if I can just get this program in place…" Izzy said. He had been working for hours. Genni had woken up; he still had a head ach and a broken leg. He was awake enough to help them in just a few storks of the keyboard, and they would be…  
  
"IN!" Izzy exclaimed happily. "Ok can I borrow someone's D-terminal, before we send you guys in there, we need to make sure that the computer can also communicate with you guys. If we can see what's going on, we will need to tell you, and vice versa…"  
  
"Here…" Davis said, handing him his D-terminal.  
  
"Thanks, I'll………what the…." Izzy jumped up, as a bright light shown through the screen."  
  
"What's happening…." Kari screamed. Suddenly there was nothing but the feeling of falling, the bright lights flashing by making them dizzy, then BANG!"  
  
"Kari….wake up Kari…." Her eyes opened the small white cat stood over her. Gatomons face was full of concern but as the girl came too, she let out a sigh of relief.  
  
"Kari, your ok, good!" Tai said.  
  
"Ya…I'm fine…" She said looking around.  
  
"Me too….just one problem….CAN SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF THIS TREE!!!!!" Joe screamed.  
  
"Hey Joe stop hanging around…" Gamomon yelled up at him. We have a problem…"  
  
"Just hold on Joe, super shocker!" Tentomon's blast hit right on. *Snap*  
  
"Oh please no…." * CRASH!!!* "Gee…thanks Tentomon…" Joe moaned.  
  
"No problem….hey where's Izzy?"  
  
"Under Joe…….."  
  
"Opps…." Tentomon said as he and Gomamon helped Joe and Izzy up.  
  
"Um guys….are we where I think we are??" Augmon asked.  
  
"We are…and I'm here too…."  
  
"GENNI!!!" They shouted.  
  
"Welcome to the new and unimproved, Digital world…" He said as the looked around at the dark world around them.  
  
"Great just great….hey where are the others?" Gatomon asked.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHH…Shut her up SHUT HER UP!!!!" Matt and TK cried holding their ears.  
  
"Mimi really…aren't you a little old for this???" Sora shouted over the noise.  
  
"I hurt my knee, got my new cloths dirty, and I hate black!!!!! I was just sitting in my room, and now…WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh now I'll never make it to the fashion shoot on time!!!!!!!"  
  
"I think this a little more important then clothes or fashion Mimi…." Suddenly the girl stopped and was dead silent looking at the creature in front of her.  
  
"PALMON!!!!!" She cried jumping up and throwing her arms around the small plant digimon.  
  
"Do you think its safe yet TK?" Patamon asked.  
  
"It looks like were back…." Sora said softly. "But everything is so…its so…"  
  
"Dead…and dark?" Biyomon said, looking around. "What happened?"  
  
"Piedmon, that's what…." Matt said angrily. "And I bet he's not the only one…."  
  
"How right you are…" A voice called out.  
  
"Hey Matt look, four children…four of the missing children!!" Gabumon cried.  
  
"Your right…" Sora said looking at the four kids standing about four meters away from them.  
  
"Ya ya, no time for formality, we have challenges for you…" The tall girl with Black hair said smiling wickedly. But if you must know……I am Teena, and I challenge the keeper's of hope, TK and his partner Patamon. She smiled; TK noticed like the others she had a backpack, weapons of some kind and a strange red circular object in her hand.  
  
"My name is Jane, and I wish to challenge, the keeps of sincerity, Mimi and Palmon…" Mimi looked over at the small girl with white hair a little shocked.  
  
"My name is Jenny, and I challenge you red head, Sora and Biyomon the keeps of Love." Jenny said smiling proudly.  
  
"And I am Blue, I challenge you friendship…." The tall boy said wrapping his arms around the three girls.  
  
"Um guys…." Sora said looking at the four other children. "I'm lost…"  
  
"This isn't funny…this place is dangerous, you don't belong here!" TK yelled.  
  
"NO you doing belong here blondie!" Teena yelled back.  
  
"Just what do you want?" Sora yelled.  
  
"Revenge!" Jenny said smiling. "Plain and simple."  
  
"Guys….I think these kids don't know who there dealing with, let show them that this is no time for games. Can you do it all the way Gabumon?"  
  
"According to Genni, when the digital world protection from our crests was broken the power returned to us…." The four children just smiled and watch amused.  
  
"Lets do it Patamon…" TK said.  
  
"You too, Biyomon…"  
  
"And you Palmon!"  
  
"Right!" The four digimon shouted.  
  
"Biyomon digievolve too……"  
  
"Palmon digievolve too….  
  
"Patamon digievolve too….  
  
"Gabumon warp digievolve too……….Gabumon???? Matt I can't digievolve, something's stopping me.  
  
"Nether can Biyomon, Palmon, and Patamon…." Mimi said softly.  
  
"Are you done yet?" Blue yelled.  
  
"What's happened what did you do?!" TK yelled accusingly.  
  
"A present, from my digimon to you…" Jenny said snapping her fingers. Suddenly the ground shook, and before the digidestined knew up out of the ground rose hundreds of black towers.  
  
"CONTROL SPIRES!!! But how??? Ken created those!" TK cried, they were encircled in them.  
  
"Devidramon…" Jenny yelled. The four children and the stunned partners, tried to shield themselves from the powerful flapping of the black dragons wings.  
  
"Patamon I don't like this, lets take out those spires! Digi armor energize!" TK cried. In a bright flash Patamon became Pegasusmon.  
  
"Star shower!!!" The power digimon started taking out the mass of control spires. Jenny waved her hand.  
  
"Let him, let him get a feeling of accomplishment…let him get tired…." She said smiling. Teena smiled back at her.  
  
"Do I sense a stork of evil in you cutie pie….way to go Jen…"  
  
"Now Devidramon….and go easy on him, he's Teena's…"  
  
"CRIMSON CLAW!!!" The bright red light, blew him right out of the sky, TK ran to his fallen digimon.  
  
"Tokomon…" TK cried.  
  
"I wouldn't do that again…just look what happened to your poor digimon, and for what?" Teena said, almost as if on cue double the amount of the control spires destroyed, rose up it their places.  
  
"Just who the hell are you?!!" Sora screamed in anger.  
  
"Well we are the dark digidestind I guess, and about the control spires, we had help getting those. In fact we had the true mastermind behind them…." Jenny said stroking Devidramon, he purred with pride. "Show them!"  
  
"My pleaser, Devidramon digievolve too…MYOTISMON!!!!" The group almost fell over, as Myotismon landed behind Jenny, and wrapping his cape around her protectively. She heard his voice in her head. "I won't let them tough you…your mine…" Jenny tried not to blush.  
  
"What's the matter digidestind? Didn't you miss me? No…maybe my friends then?" Myotismon said smiling evilly. Before they could even comprehend what had just happened, three figures appeared.  
  
"I hope you remember me TK, too bad I can't play with you this time, but I'll enjoy playing with you Mimi!!!" Puppetmon said appearing next to Jane, who smiled happily to see her partner. He returned the smile, letting her know he would take care of her.  
  
"And I think its time for our rematch, Angemon…or should I say little Tokomon?" Devimon landed like his brother behind his digidestind. "Don't worry Teena, everything will be fine…" He whispered, wrapping both his arms and wings around her, and lifting her off the ground closer to him. Teena might have fought back, but for one, she didn't want to appear like she and her partner didn't get alone that would be weak, and two, part of her felt safe in his embrace. Regardless of any mixed feelings, she knew what Piedmon had said about MagnaAngemon, and Devimon was defeated by Angemon. She didn't want to be away from him before the battle.  
  
"And Matt, you never had the chance to fight my partner, but if you had you would have lost…" Blue said.  
  
"On no….." Matt whispered. "I hope the others are having a better time then this…"  
  
  
  
***** Next chapter, the first fight! I wanted to keep this one kind of short…Please review ^_^ 


	11. The Butterfly's

"Great just great.." Tai said as they looked around. It had been almost an hour and they had found no one. "This place is horrible.." Kari said softly. "According to my calculations, and digivice there are no digimon within miles of here." Izzy said thoughtfully. "How odd." "Help he please!!!" A female voice called out. "Hey there's someone else here?!" Joe cried running off. "Joe wait it could be a.." Izzy said, as he and the others followed Joe. "A girl?!" Tai exclaimed. A young girl lay on the ground her foot caught under a rock. "Oh thank goodness!" She cried at the sight of the three boys. "I got my foot caught in a rock when this horrible ugly gross clown attacked me." "Piedmon?!" Kari said in shock. "I don't know all I know is he was ugly and funny looking.and he smelled too!" The girl said trying not to smirk. "Who are you?" Tai asked, as he and Izzy moved the heave rock. "And how did you get here?" Genni said suspiciously. "My names Erika. I don't know how I got here, I think it's that stupid clowns fault. He was really annoying, what a jerk...I think he works for McDonalds.." She said smiling. "And he's right behind you." She said evilly. Before any of them knew what was happening, the girl jumped up and pushed Tai backwards, and Etamon grabbed their digimon. "Oh wait I know how I got here now, I'm a Dark Digidestined!" Erika said laughing. "Gatomon?!" Kari cried. "What do you think you doing?" Joe yelled. "Be care-full she's not alone." Genni said looking around.  
  
"Your so right." Another girl appeared behind them. "She's not." A tall older girl said, from their right side. And another girl appeared on their left side. "Were surrounded." Izzy said, as the grouped closer together. "There just girls..AOWWWWWw" Tai jumped as Kari stepped on his foot. "Were more then just girls goggle head! My name is Taila, and my partner and I challenge the little blue hired nerd, of reliability." Said the girl behind them. "And I challenge you cutie Kari, I am Demona.." The older red head said with an angry face. "I am Alex, and my partner and I will challenge you Tai.." The girl on the left said softly. "Toughen up, Al.." Erika whispered. "And you all ready met me, me and Etamon here challenge you Izzy. Come on out guys.." She said smiling.  
  
Gatomon and Kari instantly recognized the lady in black that stood next to Demona. Joe almost had a heart attack when he say MetelSeadramon fly down from the sky, next to the girl that challenged him. "Lucky, Izzy only gets Etamon..." Joe whispered. "Very funny, then that leaves.." Izzy said. "Bwhahahahahahaha" "Oh course." Tai said sweat dropping. "Hello again kiddies.." Piedmon said as he appeared next to Alex. "Why you!!!!" Tai shouted, Izzy and Joe were holding him back while he tried to attack Piedmon who was laughing at this stupid display. "TAI!" Genni snapped. "Get a hold of yourself, just look at him, not only is he the same mega who has did all those horrible things before, he more then 100 times stronger!" "Tai he's almost 20 feet tall." Kari said still in shock. "Oh so you did notices, I was afraid you wouldn't" Piedmon said acting like had just come back from having his haircut. "Cut the cute act Piedmon!" Tai yelled. "Give us back our digimon!" "Well!" Piedmon said pretending to be hurt. "Even if I did, you could use them anyways! If you hadn't noticed the whole digital world is riddled with control spires!" "What?" Kari said in shock. He was right they were everywhere how could they not see them before? "Well that doesn't mean I can't do something!" Kari shouted. "Gatomon digi Armor." "Darkness Wave!!!!" The digivice was shot out of Kari's hand and into Piedmon's.  
  
"Tisk Tisk Tisk." Piedmon said waving his finger scolding. "You could, waste you time and have her armor digievolve, but it would be useless. What really could an armor evolution do to us hum? Nothing!" He tossed the device back to her. She was a little shocked he returned it. "So what do you plan on doing?" Genni said angrily. "Well I could just destroy you all now, but that wouldn't be very fun now would it? Don't get me wrong, I plan on destroy you all, however I'd like to watch you suffer first.." Piedmon smiled. "Lets see how well you do without your digimon.hurt them, but let them live." Piedmon said to the others. "Please tell me he's joking...Tai?!" Joe said, as they watched the evil digimon come in closer. Suddenly out of nowhere there were thousands upon thousands of sparking butterflies, so many that know one could see in front of them.  
  
The digidestind looked up, they were in a forest, there digimon partners freed. "Augmon!" Tai cried happily. "Tai?!" Tai turned his head. "Matt!! Mimi, your all here! What's going on?" He asked. "I don't know first we were attacked, by you'll never guess who." He said as the group reunited. "Myotismon, Devimon, Puppetmon." TK started "And let me guess Machinedramon?" Kari said. "And I bet they all have digidestineds too." "Ya but." "Piedmon and the others attacked us." Izzy pointed out. "And then suddenly there were. "Butterflies?" Sora asked. "Strange.." Joe said thoughtfully. "Its not strange it was me." A voice said. "What who are you? Who's there?" Gabumon asked. "Come out and fight! I'm ready" Plamon said in defense. "Relax it is I Oikawa.or what's left of him." "What?! No way!" Tk shouted. "Way, I have been watching the Dark masters for a long time now, I have seen everything they have been doing. When I saw you in trouble I used almost all my energy to help. I am very weak now, so lesson carefully." The voice said. "The dark digimon of the past have taken over this world, all the digimon here are being controlled by them. They have used black gears and control rings in unison with the spires. You cannot digievolve as long as the spires are there, and Etamon has used his dark network to cover all most the entire digital world, they will soon know where you are. I have separated them away from you, but it won't take long for them to regroup" "So how do we defeat them?" Matt asked. "You don't.." The whole group now began ageing. "Quite!" The voice boomed shutting them up. "You can not destroy them, there is mush more to what's going on then meets the eye. Remember these things, and you can save your world and ours! One the dark digidestined, are just that digidestined, like you the digital world choose them so they have a purpose here. Two they may be on the side of darkness, but darkness isn't always evil, it just appears that way. Three, they are children just like you, children can be misguided, but they are still just children, don't fight them guide them. And four, most importuned off all! The true enemy lies in the past, and only though discovering the past will you be able to save the future. It wasn't just the dark master who brought you here, once again you have a purpose, but it may not be what you think." The children were stuck, they had no idea what he was talking about. "I know you are confuse, but things will become clearer if you head south towards the Vampires reins. Find a clue in what was his chamber, it will show you what to look for next...good luck.." All of the sudden the group could feel they were alone.  
  
"Well I didn't understand one bit of that.." Tai said kicking a rock and leaning against a tree. Augmon sat down next to him. "What does he mean we can't fight the dark masters.." "Maybe it means they keep coming back..if they do then we can't destroy them." Matt said. "It means their digimon." Gabumon said. The group gave him a flat look for stating the obverse. "No Gabumon is right, us digimon never really die, so no matter how many times we beat them, they will be reborn." Biomon said. "I think we should do what he said, find this ruin, like he said if they know were here they'll be coming we can't sit here." Augmon said. "Its not a ruin..its Myotismon's castle. It was destroyed when we left for earth, he did that so know one could fallow us." Gatomon said. "Why would find anything there?" Mimi asked. "Don't you remember, we once saw the past through the sprit in Kari, Myotismon castle was once the home of Genni and all his friends, it must have once belonged to the good guys once." Izzy said. "That's right, it did. Myotismon had said once, his brother had given it to him, when the virus first started to take over. I remember in Myotismon chambers there were tones off books and things, it was where all the old records of the digital world where, a lot had gone missing however. But all that stuff was so importuned to Myotismon he kept it guarded constantly, and even made his room there. I was only allowed in once or twice." Gatomon stated. "Then what are we waiting for lets get out of here and find that castle!" Tai jumped up ready to march off. "But where is it now?" Sora asked. "We head south, we will find it if we keep looking, I'll sense it." Gatomon said. "I agree with Gatomon." Tentomon said. "Ya I don't want to sit here and wait for those guys to show up, lets move!" Patamon urged.  
  
"Good going now there gone, and I have no idea where we are!" Erika said frustrated. "Etamon are you ok?" She said looking at the crumpled monkey. "Butterflies..every ware.evil butterflies man! Are the gone yet?" "Hehehe, ya there gone." Erick said laughing. "What if they come back?" He said getting up looking around. "Don't worry I'll protect you." Erika said smiling. "Hey Erika?!" Taila called. "Everyone ok?" She said stepping out of the shadows, holding Batamon. "I'm fine, are Alex and Demona with you?" Erika asked. "No Demona is, but Alex is no where, nether is Piedmon, I thought they were with you?"  
  
"Myotismon? Myotismon?" Jenny called. "I'm up here." "How did you get in the tree?" She said looking up. "There were no trees here a minute ago..where is here?" Jenny said scratching her head and looking around. "Oh well that's great Jenny, but could you get me down first..*creek*.never mind...*SNAP! BANG!*" "Are you ok?" Jenny asked running to her partner who was lying on the ground. "Oh yes, fine. I always wanted to fall out of a tree.." Jenny just stared at him, blushing. "What?" He asked standing up. He was almost twice her height, and it hurt to look up at him, but that didn't bother her. "Jenny?" "Its nothing." She said dreamily. "Its just..I remembered you.." She said softly. "You look just the same as you do in my dreams, but your real, and that makes you better." Myotismon kneeled down next to her, he felt a little strange, hearing such things about him. As he looked at her he realized just how much she had changed, how beautiful she was and strong too. Jenny shrived a little. He smiled and raped his cape around her. "I can't find the others.." She said thoughtfully. "Good.." Myotismon purred leaning closer to her. She could feel him holding her tighter. "Then let's them find use, well make camp here for the night."  
  
"So.." "So what?" "Haven't you noticed there were four of us, and now two of us are missing?" Jane asked flatly. "Just the two of us." Blue grinned evilly, Jane hit him in the arm. "Ok ok I'll be good." He joked. "That's better." She smiled. "Puppetmon, did you find anything?" "Well there's no one here..but I guess you knew that. Poor Hunggramon, he digievolved.what was that thing." Puppetmon said as he was followed by a strange looking gear. "It looked like butterflies.I don't get it though, way did my digimon de- digievolve, and everyone is gone now." "Maybe we should stay here and wait for them?" Jane asked looking around at the cold black night.. "No way..this is creeping me out, lets find our way back." Blue said starting to walk. "Common you guys.." He called back as they ran off after him.  
  
"Ohhhhh." "It's ok your safe.." "Where am I? I feel warm..Devimon?" Teena opened her eyes, but everything was blurry. "I'm here, don't worry. There was an attack by an unknown force. When I woke up everyone was gone, and you were badly hurt. You in the castle now, in your bed safe." He said softly. "But, TK and Angemon, we need to." She said trying to get up. Devimon carefully pushed her back down into the bed. "Pay no mind to that right now. Sleep, you need your rest." He said as she closed her eyes falling back to sleep. "I love you." He whispered so softly he could barley here himself. Teena smiled in her sleep.  
  
"Piedmon? Piedmon are you ok?" Alex asked as she shock the large digimon. The forest around them was dark and frightening and she was scared out of her mind. Piedmon lay against a tree, a large cut on his head bleeding over his face. "Please wake up." Alex told herself. Nothing he was completely out of it. Alex looked down at her shirt and held up the long back. *Ripe* the fabric was strong but she was able to rip off a good strip. "He's never going to forgive me for this.." She thought as she removed the mask.  
  
******** Sorry for the wait hope you guys liked it, review please. Now that is summer and My Hero is finished it shouldn't be so long for new chapters ^_^ 


	12. The storm

"Yoile?! Can't you work any faster its like almost 8 at night.." Davis whined.  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you?! I am going as fast as I can." She yelled back. "I don't understand what Izzy was doing before they all disappeared. It's been almost 9 hours now, and I can't get a hold of them. I think it has something to do with this digital storm that's coming."  
  
"Digital storm?" Ken asked.  
  
"That's what it looks like. You see with the digital world so screwed up right now, all it's defenses are down, an its out of balance. I think that's what's causing this big storm, but I'm not sure. What ever it is, the whole digital world is now in one place, so that means this storm is going to hit everywhere at once, and we have no way to warn them."  
  
"This just keeps getting worse." Cody said softly. ******* "Someone's here!" LadyDevimon called. Devimon recognized the voices and walked out into the hall to see Erika, Etamon, Taila, Batamon, and Demona.  
  
"Hey Devimon." Etamon said smiling. He just frowned.  
  
"Who else is with you?" Devimon asked, as he walked back into the bedroom.  
  
"No one, its just us.." Taila said as they fallowed him into the room. "Oh Teena?! Is she alright?" She said running over to the bed.  
  
"She'll be fine, she just needs to rest." Devimon said setting down next to his partner, watching her sleep.  
  
"Oh." Taila said lowing her voice.  
  
"Is anyone else here?" Demona asked.  
  
"No.." Devimon said with a touch of concern in his voice.  
  
"That's not good.." LadyDevimon replied looking out the window. "A storm is coming, it's going to be bad." Devimon sighed.  
  
"We can't just leave them out there.." Erika said softly.  
  
"Your right!" Demona said taking charge. "Me and LadyDevimon will go search for them. She can fly so we have an advantage. Devimon, you should move Teena, into the main Living room, there's a fireplace in there and less windows. We should all stay together for the night, just incase. Erika you and Taila, can you cook?"  
  
"Ya sure!" She said happy to help out.  
  
"Good, none of us have eaten, so I have to assuming, that none of the other have ether, so they'll be hungry when we get back."  
  
"Ok we'll take care of the food. Devimon can take care of Teena. Batamon, why don't you and Etamon, go and make things comfortable in the main room, sense were sleeping there for the night." Taila said.  
  
"Ok, well tell you when things are ready in there ok, Devimon." Batamon said. Devimon nodded.  
  
"Ok it's all settled." Demona said, as they prepared to leave.  
  
"Demona." Taila said, as they left the room. "Don't stay out there for too long, be back here in a hour at the latest. And keep in tough with us will you?"  
  
"Don't worry I'll contact you in a half an hour." Demona said, as she and LadyDevimon left.  
  
****** "Myotismon.." Jenny said softly. "What's going on?" The vampire lord looked into the dark sky. The large pitch-black clouds, seemed to be moving fast all around them. There were flashes of light off in the distance.  
  
"Ah, the calm before the storm..how delightful." He said. Jenny just looked at him.  
  
"Its kind of creepy if you ask me.." She said. "I'm going to see where we are." Myotismon reluctantly let go of her. He watched her in deep though as she climbed the tree, he was leaning against. He had never allowed anyone close to him before, but he couldn't help feel that they were close. It was so odd. He never liked any of his servants before. That's what he considered her as a servant. He normally killed servants who had worn out there usefulness, or when an example had been made. In fact, he always felt every one of his servants would be killed by him, at one point or another, he never planed on letting any of them live. He enjoyed the suffering of others, it made his tingle inside. However Jenny was different. She was more then just a servant, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but her had felt the same way even when they first met. She belonged with him. Not just with him, to him. He considered her his own, and he had no desirer to get ride of her, in fact he feared the thought.  
  
"Myotismon!" Jenny called down to him, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up, to see her high above him. The sight of this cased a big lump to form in his stomach.  
  
"You shouldn't be up there..come down!" he heard himself ordering.  
  
"This storm is bad, I want to get out of here!" Jenny said looking above the tree in concern.  
  
"We will talk about it when you come down! Now come down!" He ordered.  
  
"Fine.." Jenny said as she climbed down. "Huh? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" She screamed as tree what hit by a blast of lighting, sending Jenny flying off the tree and into so far off bushes.  
  
"JENNY!!!" Myotismon couldn't stop himself from calling out her name. That's when the rain came. *********** "Ouch!" Blue yelled. Demona and Jane helped him into the castle.  
  
"Next time, think about what you're doing, before you think you do it!" Jane scolded.  
  
"Ya, you'd think you were me." Puppetmon teased. "But then again, I watch where I'm walking.  
  
"How was I suppose to know that the lighting was going to hit there, I was lucky I didn't get fried, only burned form the heat of the air." Blue said as he was helped into a chair. "Hey?" What's up with Teena?" Blue looked at the couch next to him, Teena was curled up asleep in Devimons arms.  
  
"Teena gut hurt, badly when those butterflies separated us." Batamon said.  
  
"Oh." Blue said softly. "Hope she's ok."  
  
"She'll be fine." Devimon said looking down at her. "What worries me now, is that Piedmon and Myotismon out in that storm.." He said thoughtfully.  
  
"Hey Piedmon and Myotismon are strong!" Puppetmon said. "They'll be fine." The group sat down in front of the warm fire wrapped in blankets, as Taila and Erika brought in the food they made. The flashes of light outside became constant, lighting up the room, and plunging it into darkness again. The wind was picking up and the rain was hitting the castle hard.  
  
"Piedmon, and Myotismon might be able to handle it...but what about Alex, and Jenny." Blue said quietly.  
  
*********** "Piedmon...please wake up." Alex said as the cold rain hit, them. Piedmon hadn't moved for a good hour. His wound was still bleeding a little but not much. But sadly by this time, she had noticed that that wasn't the only wound needing dressing. Alex held herself tightly, as she got up and looked around for shelter. She could barley see anything in the rain, and needed to get him somewhere dry. A few meter's off she could spot what she thought was a cave. She ran back over to him, throwing her backpack back on, and tried to communicate one more time with the others. Nothing. "Ok." She said taking a deep breath. She raped her arms underneath his underarms, and began to pull the heavy digimon towards the shelter.  
  
********** "Jenny?" A voice called. She could see anything, but could fell large amounts of water hitting her face. She knew there were flashes of light coming from somewhere, but she couldn't tell where. She could also feel another warm body next to her, squeezing her incredibly tight. "Jenny, its me Myotismon, tell me, are you ok? Jenny?" The voice became less bleary and Jenny knew she knew the owner. "Myotismon..?" She thought. "Jenny?" He said again. She opened her eyes. She recognized the man with the pale skin, and concerned blue eyes, hidden by a red mask. His blond hair was sticking to his face from the rain.  
  
"Myotismon?" She said softly, before it clicked in. "Myotismon!" She wanted to reach out and hug him, but felt a great pain in her body.  
  
"Don't move!" He ordered softly. "You were flung out of that tree..I thought I lost you..I was scared." He heard himself admitting, which shocked him. He always kept everything bottled up. Jenny sighed, allowing her body to rest in his arms. She looked up at him dreamily, before closing her eyes to rest. Myotismon said nothing, he couldn't believe what he had just said, and he had meant it too. Suddenly everything was clear. He understood it all. "So this is how Devimon feels." He thought, as he leaned his head in close to hers, resting his lips on her forehead and shielding her from the rain. "I won't fight it..but I must be careful, to let no one know.." He told himself. "I can't, I can't risk it..humans can't be brought back.."  
  
"I can't tell you yet Jenny." He whispered. "But as soon as this is all over, I promise. I'll never let you go.you mine." He said smiling knowing what he meant in his heart.  
  
********* The warmth of the small fire, glowed on his handsome fetchers. Alex would have never imagined her partner was so very handsome. Her arms hurt from dragging him, all that way, and it had been nearly impossible, considering how much he had changed. Alex was glad, he had given her that back-back. She was able to change into dry clothing. She had found some matches, and used some of the dry sticks and twigs to make a fire. She found a blanket, small but warm, witch she covered, he partner with. She had to remove, his shirt, and laid it near the fire to dry. She was now attending to, the cut on his chest, she had originally missed, when preoccupied with the more visible one on his forehead. "There." She said softly, leaning against a rock. "Now lets see, if there's any food in this bag. Lucky for her, there was some. Not much but enough. She divided up the food, thinking he'd be hungry when he got up. She also made sure to save a little more hidden away, incase they were there for a while. Alex laid herself on the cold ground next to the warm fire. She could feel her eyes getting heavy as she watched the dancing flames. "Don't go to sleep." she told herself. "Don't go to sleep...."  
  
******** "Devimon." Teena whispered. The daemon's eyes fluttered open, a little suppressed he had fallen asleep. He looked down to see Teena wide-awake. "Hi." She said softly smiling up at him.  
  
"Hi." He replied. He felt her snuggle in closer to him.  
  
"Thanks for looking alter me.." She said. Devimon just smiled. Teena's eyes drifted over to the rest of the room. She noticed, Jane, raped up in a blanket with Puppetmon holding her close to him. Batamon was snuggled next to Taila. Teena laughed softly, as she heard Taila half asleep telling Blue to get off her foot. Demona and LadyDevimon, were staring into the fire, talking quietly.  
  
"Where's Jen, and Batty man?" Teena asked.  
  
"They couldn't fine them.there still out in that storm somewhere." Devimon said.  
  
"Storm?" Teena said. Suddenly there was a large flash of lighting. She watched Etamon jump awake.  
  
"AHHHHHH the digidestend are here hide me!!!!" He was abruptly shut up by Erika who through a pillow at him. "Uwwww soft.." He said falling back asleep.  
  
"And clowny must be out there too?" Teena asked. Devimon nodded. "hahaha." She chuckled. "I bet his make ups not water proof.  
  
************ "YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!!!" Alex felt herself jump awake. Piedmon stood over her his face red with anger. She was a little taken by surprise. "HOW DARE YOU!!!!" He yelled, his voice loader, then the crashing thunder. Alex quickly recognized the mask in his hand and was about to explain, when he grabbed her off the ground by her left arm.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." She yelled. He grabbed one of his swords. She gasped in fear as he held in next to her neck. She tried to talk, but the words wouldn't come out.  
  
"I will ripe you apart, you insolent child. How dare you remove my mask!" He lowed the sorrowed to he stomach, letting it cut her, wounds form earlier. She screamed, as little trickles of blood leaked out and stained her ripped clothing. Piedmon brought her close to his face, and was unaware of his tight grip on her arm. "I'll punish you for your disrespect. She felt him slap her so heard with his other hand she went flying, the problem was, he was still holding her arm, so SNAP!!! Piedmon dropped her hearing the noise. He looked down at the crumpled girl on the floor. With one hand she was pointing at him, he looked at her for a moment, his anger brewing. She was breathing heavily, her lips were moving but no sound would come out. But as he watched her move her hand to her forehead, he realized she was trying to tell him something. He raised his hand, to feel something soft and wet on his head. He removed it feeling a small pulling on his skin. As he looked at the crimson stained cloth, he noticed, it was the same fabric on her torn shirt. He was stunned now understanding, what she had done. But his thoughts were cut short. Alex screamed, hot tears over her red face, her eyes pined to her left arm. Piedmon's own eyes grew wide, her wrest was snapped, and he could see the separated bone underneath her skin. Her eyes turned to him, accusingly, they were so full of anger, hate, fear, and hurt. Piedmon felt a chill go down his spine. Before he could do a thing, she ran off into the dark outside. He thought he heard his voice call out her name, but was too shocked to tell. ************ "This storm, is getting worse! Are you sure were close?!" Joe yelled. "Yes, I can see it! Just a bit further." Gatomon yelled, back. The wind was so load they could barley speck. "OK GUYS!" Tai called. "JUST A BIT FETHER, AND WE'LL BE AT MYOTISMONS CASTLE!" The group groaned as they trudged on through the heavy rain.  
  
************************* Ok that was that chapter, next chap, the digidestend learn some of the past, and they are confronted by the darkdigidestined! There's lots more stuff to come, plus the plot thickens! Please review! 


	13. The Begining of the break up

"Its been hours, and this place looks like its about to fall apart at any minute!" Mimi whined. They had been in Myotismon's castle for half the night, and they were all tired. "Well at lest we're out of the rain." Plamon said trying to be cheery. "Hey look!" Izzy shouted. "This is what we say, way back when the dark masters first took over! This is were our digimon were born.sort of." The group of children jumped up and ran into the room Izzy had found. Sure enough it was the same room only much older. "Wow..creepy" Joe said softly. "Hey look Izzy! A computer.I think." He said pointing at the large mechanical object. "Ok Izzy, you try and see what you can find on that thing, Gatomon's going to try to find Myotismons old books." Tai said.  
  
******** "Jenny?" Wake up sweet.." A deep voice called. "Where am I?" He eyes opened and she looked around. "AHHH! I'm dead?!!!" She screamed jumping. "No! Pet you are in my bed.well coffin. You've safe back in the castle with me. I've held your wounds, everything is fine." "Myotismon!" She cried happily. The vampire blushed as she threw her arms around him, holding him tightly. "I need you to come with my now. Piedmon has returned and he whishes to speck with us.  
  
"Leave the girls outside." Piedmon said dryly as Devimon and Myotimon approached him. "Hey clowny we have a right to know what's going on!" Teena yelled. "Ya!" Jenny yelled. "I AM NOT TO BE ARGUED WITH!!!" He boomed, shocking even his own brothers, with his loss of temper. "I wish to see Myotimon and Devimon alone." He said softly. The doors of the large room closed, leaving both Teen and Jenny left out. "Well!!!" Teena huffed. "Guess he didn't get any last night.."  
  
"I need to talk to you both in STRICT confidence." Piedmon began. He rubbed his head as he talked. "Alex disappeared last night, I shell not tell you why, and you are not to ask her. What happened is my business only understand!" Both digimon nodded. "Good. Go find her. Take this, feed it to her, and return her to me." Piedmon said handing something to Devimon. "Now go! I wish to be left alone.."  
  
"Well what did Bozo want?" Teena demeaned. Devimon gave her a strange look, and then looked at Myotismon. "There forgetful Mushrooms.. enough to make her forget a whole day.." Devimon said thoughtfully. Myotismon just turned away. "Come Jenny, we need to find Alexandra.." He said and left.  
  
"This is going to take forever!" Sora said. "So many books, so little time." Joe said. She just gave him an annoyed look. "Joe we can't even read these.. there in digimon!" She said. "Ya but the pictures are nice." He was immediately hit on the head by a book. "AHHH!" He cried falling backwards, knocking over a bookcase. As the dust settled, Sora noticed something. On the wall there was a painting. There were 16 symbols. The first 8 were the symbols of their crests. They were painted inside a sun. Below them were 8 new symbols, inside a moon. In the middle of the moon and sun, were two planets next to each other. One was earth, and the other appeared to be the digital world. All of this was inside a square, with writing all around it. At each point of the square was a digi god.  
  
"Wow." Tai said, just noticing. "But what does it mean? Augmon, can you read it?" "No.its old.really old!" Augmon said looking at it. "Hummm." Joe said thinking. "You know all of Myotismons chamber walls are covered by these book case's.if there was a painting under one." BOOM! Joe knocked over another case, a little further ahead.  
  
"HEY?!!!" TK cried. "It can't be?! That's Devimon, on that panting. And Angemon too." "It's the fight when he first digevolved." Sora said in ah. "Look there's the crest of hope next to Angemon..and there's one next to Devimon too, but what does it mean?" TK said. "It means Oikawa was right! These painting on the wall are events that have happened..or to the people who made them would happened. There very old." Joe said examining them. "Ok! Lets clear away these book cases, we need to see more!" Tai shouted.  
  
"How odd." Izzy said looking through the computer. He had finally gotten it to work, but now had no idea what to do. "What's odd?" Matt asked. "Well, it appears there are many old records, stored here. There are many files but they are all in and ancient language. I can't understand it at all. "Well keep trying Izzy! I know if anyone can figure this stuff out its you!" Tentomon said.  
  
"I want to know what's going on! It early in the morning and I'm tired, plus that storm isn't gone its just stopped for a few hours." Teena said looking up at the dark storm clouds. Devimon smiled at her. "We are on a mission." Devimon said smiling at her. "No we are doing Piedmons dirty work, because he is lazy." Jenny said. "Ya Devimon we need to be preparing to fight Angemon! No affiance but you need to find out how to go to ultimate." Teena said. Devimon sighed, know she was right. "When we find Alex, I want to go." Teena continued. "Its time we toughened up, let Piedmon do what he wants, I have other plans!" "That's not a good idea." Myotismon said, giving her a curl look. "HEY! Don't you tell me what to do!" Teena yelled, Myotismon growled as the little girl stared him angrily in the eye. "She's just as stubborn as him." Devimon thought. "Better do something before she rips him apart." "Myotismon!" The vampire turned away from Teena and looked at his younger brother. "I want to settle the score, I want to be stronger." He said looking at the ground. Teena looked a little stunned for a minute but then smiled.  
  
"Hey guys! Its Alex!" Jenny cried. Alex leaned against a tree quietly. She looked over at the four, and then turned away. "Um, hi Jenny glad you guys came to rescue me." Jenny said pretending to be Alex. "Oh no problem Alex, glad your alright." She continued. "Something's wrong.." Myotismon said sternly. He remembered what Piedmon had said. "Um Jenny, why doing you and Teena.hey?! He said seeing the too girls were now huddled around Alex.  
  
"Hey, you ok girl?" Teena asked. Alex just looked up at her, her eyes watering. "Hey! Your arm, what happened, did someone attack you?" Teena said getting angry. Without warning Alex grabbed Teena with her good arm. Her eyes were full of tears. "When we got lost, Piedmon hurt his head, he was bleeding badly..I didn't know what to do, I had to stop the blood...I took of his mask..when he woke up..I HATE HIM!!! I want to go home, I heat it here!" She cried. Nether girl could understand what she was saying, but Devimon and Myotismon put the pieces together. They stood silently, while Teena slapped some since into the hysterical girl. "Be quiet!" Teena yelled. Alex shut up, the tears stopping. "Good!" "Now tell use everything." Jenny said smiling.  
  
"Unbelievable!" Izzy said. "Ya.look at them all!" Mimi said. "The battle with Devimon, Etamon, Myotismon, the Dark masters.." Tai started. "Deaboramon, MaloMyotismon.." Matt continued. "There's all the armor digieggs, and then some, DNA digievoling, and look! This is from right now?!"  
  
The group looked at the picture, it was seemlier to the first on Joe had found, only, the digital world was black. And all the crest symbols were in pieces, a dark shadow, with glowing red eyes, overlooked it all.  
  
"Creepy." Kari whispered. "But some of the pictures are missing." "Right Kari." Izzy said. "Allow me to explain, according to the information I was able to un-code, these painting, are prophesies, of what the painter prophesized would happen. In the digital world, there are two groups, 8 of light, us and 8 of darkness I assume the other digidestined. That's the first painting. The second is off a place I've never been. It looks like ancient place, pliers and a temple. I believe this was the first primary village, the setter of the digital world, other painting show it was well. In the third painting, it appears that they are people, just like Genni, looking after eggs. The next picture is ripped in half. It shows panic, fire, some of the people are running, but the part that shows what is causing this.is gone. There are a few after that that are missing. The next shows, File Island and us. You know the rest to now. Then there's one more that both worries and puzzles me. The last picture. Its missing, but the one before it.its of the dark digidestind, and there crests and digimon. However the digimon that are with them are blackened out.not one of the appeare to have the form of any of our old enemy's. The world around them is black..and our crests, there in a circle.broken." Izzy said softly. "If only I could read this..but it's so old." "Each one has writing, but until we can understand what it says, we have no idea what anything means." Tentomon said. "I think its pretty clear, we're going to loss!!!" Mimi whined. "No Mimi, the last picture is missing, we don't know." Palmon said trying to comfort her. "Ya and we can't even read what it says." TK said. "What we need to do is find more clue's. Oikawa was right. Something happened in the past, but its all missing. Maybe there is a clue to defeat them!" Izzy said. "Ya, if there was, that would explain why it's gone! I bet the dark master took it so we wouldn't figure it out!" Tai said. "Kari, tell me you have your camera?" "I never take it off." Kari said smiling. "Ya she ware it to bed." Gatomon teased. "What ever, Kari take some pictures, I am going to see if I can find out what ever happened to that old temple. Maybe there are more answers there." Izzy said. "Ya well hurry up, we have to get moving again. We have no idea where the dark digimon are, or Genni." Tai said.  
  
"We found him Piedmon." Erika said walking into the thorn room. "Don't you ever knock.." Piedmon groaned. "Well sorry, it's not my fault you got no sleep last night." Erika said. "Hey Piedmon!" Etamon shouted. "Suddenly my head ach just got worse." Piedmon sighed. "What?" He asked. "Never mind. So you found Genni. Good, bring him to me.." Piedmon said. No one moved. Erika folded her arms looking annoyed. Piedmon frowned. "Did you hear me girl? Go get him!" "I think for waking us up early in the morning, making me, Etamon, Taila and Betamon go out and search for this man for hours you should at lest say something!" She said getting angry. "I did, I told you to go get him!" he shouted. "No, Tank you!" "Your welcome." "PIEDMON!" "GET OUT!!!!" He shouted jumping up. "jest leave, and have him sent to me..NOW!!!!" Etamon grabbed her before she could say a word, and they were gone.  
  
Piedmon groaned. He was falling asleep. As soon as Alex had ran off on him, he had ran after her. He couldn't find her, he searched all night long. He had never been so worried in his life. When he found her, she was huddled underneath a tree soaking wet, and bleeding. He had wanted to pick her up, and hung her. He wanted to bring her home, and what did they call it? Apology? Something stopped him. He didn't want to face her, he didn't understand. It wasn't his fault, he told himself. She was so horrible, he hated her so much; he told it to himself again and again. She was so kind and nice and gentle.He couldn't get her out of his head. He rubbed the wound softly. He had lost much blood, and because his power flowed though his blood, he had shrunk. He hated it, all that work wasted. Now he had to have Myotismon and Devimon return her to him, without her memory, so he wouldn't have to deal with what she did. She did. It was her fault, not his.  
  
"Um.hello?" a young girl spoke Piedmon razed his head. A young girl with white hair and sunglasses poked her head through the door. Piedmon sighed a sigh of disappointment. "Yes Jane..what is it?" He said rubbing his forehead again. "Um.. where's Alex?" She said looking around. "NEVER MIND!" Piedmon yelled causing the girl to jump. "What do you want, or have you just come here to annoy me like everyone else?!" Jane suddenly lost her nerve. She hated that creepy clown. "Well? Speck up!" "Were tried of sitting here!" Taila said coming in behind Jane. She gave Jane a quick wink, as she was fallowed by Blue, and Demona. Piedmon looked amused. "Really." He said giving a sly smile. "Ya!" Blue continued. "We've located the digidestend, and its time for us to test out how strong we are!" "Were going out to fight!" Demona said. At this time Erika had come back, followed by the other digimon, and Genni, who was tied up. Piedmon's smile grew. This would give him time to deal with Genni alone. "Very well." Piedmon said. All of them looked shocked, he agreed. "Go find them, however remember, this is not the final battle! Spy on them if you want, train, but if you fight them, remember to just crush their sprits, not them! There is much more for us to do before we ride ourselves of them."  
  
The group walked out a little shocked but ready to fight. Piedmon smiled being left alone with his old foe. He was still taller then him, and he could see the fear in Gennis eyes. "Well well well, look what we have here." Piedmon taunted. "A washed up old fool!" "Stop this Piedmon! Let the children go!" Genni said coldly. Piedmon just smiled. "I think they like it here." Piedmon said confidently. "Oh really, ALL of them..." Genni smiled at the evil clown. Unlike most he had know Piedmon for a long time, once they were friends, until it happened. Piedmon was never the same again, so much anger and hurt. Regardless of the past he knew what the dark digimon was thinking, just as Piedmon knew what he was. Piedmon frowned. "So how are you and your child making out? Alexandra right?" Genni smiled, knowing he hit him right on. "What does that have to do with anything?!" Piedmon yelled losing his temper again. Genni's smile grew. "So where is she Piedmon, I'd love to meet her. I bet she tell me just how much she really wants to stay with you.." Piedmon growled, rubbing the wound on his forehead again.  
  
"THAT ASS WHOLE!!!!" "Teena calm down" Devimon urged. "I'm going to rip clown body into a million pieces!!!!" She yelled marching back towards the castle, along with Jenny. Both virus digimon were trying to stop them, when Devimon lost it. "TEENA DON'T MOVE!!!!" Devimon reached out and grabbed her holding her up to his face. Teena was angry and shocked at the same time. "I could tar you into little pieces right here and now!!!! Just image what Piedmon could do to you. You see what he did to Alex?! That was an accident, what do you think would happen if he meant to hurt her? If you can't even fight me then don't you dare to try him! Your going to obey me this time is that clear?!!!" He yelled throwing her to the ground. Teena just looked at him her mouth wide open, her eyes white. For the first time ever, she felt scared, truly scared of Devimon. Devimon looked down at her his red eyes glowing, and then he noticed something, small tears welling up in his partner's eyes. Before he could realize what he had done, Teena had ran off into the woods.  
  
"You jerk!!!" Jenny yelled. "Myotismon tell him, he's your brother." "Jenny, he's right. Lets just do what Piedmon wanted and go home." Myotimons said coldly. "And what's that?" Jenny said putting her hands on her hips. "Erase her memory, so she forgets what happened." Myotismon said hand Devimon the mushrooms. Jenny's face went white. Myotismon didn't seem to care. "Your just going to make her forget what he did? He could have killed her, that doesn't mean something?" Jenny said in shock. "Its not our problem, I'm just following orders." Myotismon said coldly. Suddenly Jenny felt, like she barley knew her partner. "So.if he hurt me, you'd just make me forget about it?" Jenny said softly. Myotismon tried to say something but she cut him off. "And for that matter, if you hurt me, would you just make me forget?" "Don't do this I'm warning you Jenny." Myotismon said coldly. "Don't do this?! How can you be do." "HEARTLESS?!!!!" Myotismon boomed. Jenny fell over in fear. "Look into my eyes human, I AM heartless, I care for no one! Nothing you hear me?!!!" Myotismon yelled, letting his temper get the better of him. Jenny stood up and turned away for him. Devimon put his hand on Myotismon's shoulder. "Myotismon." He whispered, letting the vampire realize he just made the same mistake as Devimon had.  
  
"Jenny.I." He called out. "I'm leaving now. I'm going to find Teena, then I'm going home.." She whispered. "But Jenny." "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" She cried her eyes full of tears. "You lied to me..I can't trust you anymore, find a new partner." Jenny said before she ran off into the woods. Myotismon and Devimon just stood there stunned.  
  
"So you were going to erase my memory?" Alex said making them jump. He face was blank, with no sing of what she was thinking. "Why would he want you to do that? Is he just as bad as you two?" "Hey, at lest we care about our partners!" Devimon yelled. "I'd never hurt Jenny!!!" Myotismon said angrily. Devimon nodded in agreement. "Really? I think you just did." She said coldly. They said nothing. "I'm going back to Piedmon.if ether of you have any decency, then you'll tell him you did your job, let him think I don't remember. And if you really do care about Teena and Jenny, then stop pretending that you have no feelings! We all know you do, so prove it!"  
  
"Ok so if we keep heading north, we should find this place? Izzy you sure about this?" Kari asked. "Yes." Izzy said. "Well keep in contact with the D-Terminals." "Your not going???" TK said in shock. "No. Matt, Kari, Sora, will go to find the temple. Tai Joe and me will stay here, to continue trying to understand these painting. TK and Mimi are going to look around for Genni." "Ya." Mimi said. "He might be able to help." TK replied. "Ok guys, stick together and good luck!" Tai said waving good-bye.  
  
"So..there splitting up..." Blue said watching from the shadows. "All the easier, right?" Hugguramon said smiling. "So? What do we do?" Taila asked. "Well we know where Genni is, so following those two won't do any good, however I'd love to know what there up too. How about this, there are five of us right?" Demona started. "Me and Taila, well follow those guys. Erika, Jane and Blue should stay and watch the others. "Good Idea, I want to see what those kids are up too." Blue said. "Well contact you if we find anything out, but be on guard!" Demona said.  
  
"I did nothing wrong!!! It was her fault!" Piedmon yelled. "Why are you making her suffer for what happened? You need to forget what happened all those years ago, you can't live like this forever!!! You can't live the rest of you life alone, and think that everyone else is out to get you." Genni yelled. "Its not our fault, we did everything." "It is your fault! Everything is!" Piedmon yelled. "You'll pay." "Piedmon?" A female voice called. Piedmon stopped dead in his tracks. Alex stood quietly in the door of the throne room. He just looked her over for a moment unaware he was staring. "You can't keep yourself bottled up forever.why are you so afraid to care? Not everyone will end up hurting you." Genni whispered. "Silence I've had it with you for today." Piedmon smiled evilly, Genni felt his hair stand on end as the dark jest held out a white cloth. "Piedmon NO!!!" he yelled. In a flash all that was left was a small toy. Alex felt a shiver go down her spin. "Did he just do that?!?!!!!" She thought. "Maybe coming back was a bad idea..but.I have to give him one more chance, maybe it was an accident like Devimon had said. And what was Genni talking about?" Alex felt confused, looking at him again, made her feel like she was supposed to be with him. She felt like they belonged together, and although she was angry and terrified, she had to wonder, if he really hated her. Did she still hate him, maybe it was her fault, she did remove his mask. "Well don't just stand there child come here!" He yelled. Alex quickly walked towards him, as he sat on the thrown. Piedmon eyed her over again; Alex found her eyes wandering towards the little doll still on the floor. "What were you doing?" Piedmon asked. Alex jumped un able to find any words. "Uh I wasn't doing anything." she stuttered. "I meant what were you doing when you hurt your arm. How did it happen?" He asked. "Oh!" she said a little relived. "I..I don't remember." She said. "Ya, funny come to think of it, I don't remember anything." Piedmon eyed her suspiciously. "Oh great he doesn't believe me." She worried. "How strange indeed." He smiled. "How about you and I go out and train hum?" He said. Alex blushed. "Really?" She said. "Well no one else is here, and I don't trust you here by yourself, so lets go!" He said getting up and walking out of the room. Alex sighed, and then looked down at the doll again. "Poor guy." She said picking him up and putting him in her bag pack. "Maybe he'll change you back."  
  
"Stupid Devimon!" Teena said, still unaware she was crying. Part of her was angry, but mostly she was hurt. She thought they were close; she had to fight her better judgment and lie to herself just so she wouldn't let him know how she really felt. For what. "He never did care." She thought. "He threatened to kill me......I'm scared.." For the first time she was, sitting in the dark woods alone, and afraid. "Mimi hurry up!" A voice called, making Teena jump. "I think were lost TK. And I don't know where she went she's no where around.TK?" TK had stopped it took Patamon a second to notice the girl. Teena just stood staring. "Um hi..Teena right?" TK said. "Look if you and Devimon are looking for a fight, I'm ready!!!" Patamon yelled. "Patamon, not now." TK said. He saw her hurt, and she knew it. "Your crying..what did he do to you?" TK said softly. "That's non of your business!" She yelled. "Leave me alone, she yelled as she ran off.  
  
"Patamon common" TK yelled. "What were going after her, what if it's a trap?" He protested. "That's not the point right now. I know it could, but look at her. Something happened, and we both know Devimon had something to do with it. Remember, what Oikawa said. There kids like us, we have to help them!" TK said running off. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this." Patamon said flying after him.  
  
*********** Hehehehe long chapter huh. Well hopefully you guys are still likening it, as more of the plot is reveled! Please review! ^_^ 


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